Freshwater Surveys new

Written by James Atherton
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Freshwater Survey Team at Uafato, Eastern Upolu Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most threatened in the world and Samoa is no exception. Our rivers, lakes and estuaries are the plumbing of our islands but are threatened by pollution, development, invasive species and climate change. The race is on to learn about our threatened wetland ecosystems and then manage them sustainably before it is too late. In order to increase our knowledge about Samoa’s freshwater ecosystems, a team of scientists from Wetlands International Oceania and IUCN Oceania based in Fiji and the Paris Museum of Natural History in France, were recently in Samoa for a preliminary survey of the freshwater fauna of Samoa focusing on fish and crustaceans. This is the first time that such a survey has been conducted in Samoa. The survey work was conducted over 2 weeks in July and was coordinated by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment, and Meteorology (MNRE), in collaboration with Conservation International, JICA and the USP. The surveys were generously funded by JICA and UNDP through the Samoa Protected Area Program of Work. Follow up work is planned in 2009 focusing more on Savaii. The surveys confirmed that Samoa has a unique and highly threatened freshwater fauna. At least 3 new records of fish were recorded for Samoa including one (perhaps 2) potential new species to science. In addition there were 9 new records of crustaceans including 1 potential new species - an increase of 100% over what was previously known for Samoa! The Uafato area was found to have the highest fish diversity on Upolu probably because of its intact native forest and low population density. Disturbingly, many rivers had very low native fish diversity probably as a result of the introduction of exotic species (such as Tilapia and mosquito fish) that outcompete native species. A particular concern is the indiscriminate introduction of non-native species to new areas where they don’t belong. For example at least two marine sea turtles from Aleipata have been introduced into Lake Lanoto’o! Given that many native freshwater animals are eaten by Samoans for food- eg ula vai (freshwater prawns), tuna (freshwater eels) and goby larvae, and that many important edible marine species (such as atule (yellowtail scad), anae (mullet) and pa’a (mangrove crabs)) need clean estuaries as nursery areas it is obvious that managing our freshwater resources better is a high priority. Many of our river species also have life cycle stages in the ocean- meaning that we should avoid blocking rivers with too many obstacles that impede the movement of animals up and down. There are some practical steps we can all take to conserve our wetlands- please don’t dump trash in rivers, keep native forest along river banks intact, make sure that river mouths are not blocked and avoid constructing culverts and other obstacles that completely block the movement of fish and crustaceans up and down rivers. Above all please get professional advice from the Ministry of Environment or the Ministry of Agriculture before introducing new species into places where they don’t belong! Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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