Scientists Find Two 'Wild and Untouched' Worlds Hidden in the Pacific
Researchers found the atolls remain largely untouched, with 266 reef fish groups and 15 seabird colonies recorded before the sanctuary designation.
- A new study in Frontiers and Marine Science identifies Bikar and Bokak as two of the most intact ecosystems worldwide, with lead author Alan Friedlander of the University of Hawai highlighting their pristine state despite lying 116 and 385 kilometers from the nearest inhabited atolls.
- The Marshall Islands Marine Resource Authority and National Geographic Pristine Seas conducted a collaborative expedition in 2023, utilizing scuba surveys, underwater video, and deep-sea cameras to monitor local land, sea, and sky ecosystems.
- "These atolls have extensive seabird colonies, mature native vegetation," Friedlander said, reporting researchers found at least 266 groups of reef fish and 15 seabird colonies across both sites.
- Following the assessment, The Marshall Islands designated some 48,000 square kilometers around Bikar and Bokak as the country's first national marine sanctuary two years after the 2023 expedition.
- Large marine protected areas serve as globally important reference systems for understanding tropical oceanic ecosystems in the Anthropocene, though future studies should focus on examining nutrient transfer and ecological connectivity between habitats.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Two isolated coral atolls, located in the Marshall Islands, northeast of Australia, in the Pacific Ocean, are among the last "wild and healthy ecosystems" of the ocean, unaffected by the activity...
With underwater cameras and a submarine, scientists have revealed the biodiversity of the atolls Bikar and Bokak. It could be two of the world's most intact ecosystems.
ISOLATED Bikar and Bokak atolls preserve an untouched world full of sharks and have become the Marshall Islands' first national marine reserve.
Zeit Online
Handelsblatt
Writing Science, Nov 11 (EFE).- In a world marked by the loss of biodiversity and the footprint of the human being, there are still some “wild and healthy ecosystems” in a few remote atolls of the Pacific Ocean. A study published by Frontiers in Marine Science cites the coral atolls Bikar and Bokak, in the Marshall Islands [...] The entry Two remote atolls of the Pacific still preserve wild and healthy ecosystems was first published in HolaNews.
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