true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

NEW ZEALAND & PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

NEW ZEALAND & PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION

Kepidauen Palikir ISRA

145/179

Kepidauen Palikir ISRA

Kepidauen Palikir

Summary

Kepidauen Palikir is located in Pohnpei in the Federates States of Micronesia. Pohnpei is surrounded by a lagoon, enclosed by a discontinuous barrier reef, and the area encompasses a deep channel from the outer reef to the lagoon, with coral reef habitat features. The area is subject to strong currents during the incoming tide. Within this area there are: threatened species (e.g., Grey Reef Shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos), resting areas (Whitetip Reef Shark Triaenodon obesus), and undefined aggregations (Grey Reef Shark).

Kepidauen Palikir

Kepidauen Palikir

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Kepidauen Palikir is located in Pohnpei in the Federates States of Micronesia. Pohnpei is surrounded by a lagoon, enclosed by a discontinuous barrier reef (Rowley et al. 2019), and Kepidauen Palikir provides a passage through the reef to the lagoon. The area includes a deep channel from the outer reef to the lagoon, with coral reef habitat features. The channel is subject to strong currents on the incoming tide (J Hartup pers. obs. 2024). Pohnpei is a volcanic island with high elevation and dense vegetation, resulting in high annual precipitation levels (Rowley et al. 2019), with runoff influencing the surrounding reefs and lagoon.

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthic and pelagic and is delineated from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to 50 m based on the bathymetry of the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

Two Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species regularly occur in the area. These are the Endangered Grey Reef Shark (Simpfendorfer et al. 2020a) and the Vulnerable Whitetip Reef Shark (Simpfendorfer et al. 2020b).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C3 – RESTING AREAS

Kepidauen Palikir is an important resting area for one shark species.

Between 2008–2024, the area was dived regularly (2–4 times per month or 30–50 times per year) by Club Pareo (J Hartup pers. obs. 2024). Whitetip Reef Sharks were regularly observed year-round resting on the sandy substrate of the channel towards the lagoon (J Hartup pers. obs. 2024). An average of 10–15 individuals were observed on 75% of dives. Occasional observations of courtship behaviour have been reported, yet the majority of sightings in the area are of resting sharks. Whitetip Reef Sharks are observed at reefs throughout Pohnpei, however, this area is the only place where regular aggregations of resting behaviour are observed.

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C5 – UNDEFINED AGGREGATIONS

Kepidauen Palikir is an important area for undefined aggregations of one shark species.

Between 2008–2024, the area was dived regularly (2–4 times per month or 30–50 times per year) by Club Pareo (J Hartup pers. obs. 2024). Aggregations of Grey Reef Sharks were observed year-round on almost every dive in the area coinciding with an incoming tide. Group sizes ranged between 20–50 individuals, generally schooling in the current at depths between 30–40 m (J Hartup pers. obs. 2024). Grey Reef Sharks also form tight groups during incoming tides in French Polynesia (Papastamatiou et al. 2021), where the sharks reduce swimming activity and save energy using predicted updraft zones in channels and ‘surf the slope’. Given the currents in Kepidauen Palikir and the association of Grey Reef Sharks with the incoming tide, the area likely comprises an important resting area for this species, however, more information is needed to confirm the function of this aggregation.

Kepidauen Palikir

SUBMIT A REQUEST

ISRA SPATIAL LAYER REQUEST

To make a request to download the ISRA Layer in either a GIS compatible Shapefile (.shp) or Google Earth compatible Keyhole Markup Language Zipped file (.kmz) please complete the following form. We will review your request and send the download details to you. We will endeavor to send you the requested files as soon as we can. However, please note that this is not an automated process, and before requests are responded to, they undergo internal review and authorization. As such, requests normally take 5–10 working days to process.

Should you have questions about the data or process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    * indicates required

    Industry or sector (*)

    Under the terms and conditions of our User License Agreement , full and appropriate acknowledgement is required in any materials and publications derived from the data (and copies should be sent to the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through the contact form). For any publications making substantial use of the data, the ISRA welcomes the opportunity for co-authorship, collaboration, and to comment prior to publication.


    Furthermore, we need to know whether you are a commercial or non-commercial user. Non-commercial includes scientific research, education or conservation. Commercial is defined as follows: any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of a commercial entity (that operates ‘for profit’) or use by a non-profit for the purposes of revenue generation

    Type of use(*):

    Please specify which layer (ex. all layers, layers within a specific Region, layers within a Jurisdiction or a single ISRA): Purpose (*):

    Please provide a description of how you intend to use the ISRA GIS Dataset. The more details you provide, the faster we can respond to your request. We may require further clarification prior to providing access. (min. 100 characters – max 1,000 characters)



    File format request (*)

    By providing your personal data, you consent to its processing as described below. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group will use the information you provide on this form to send the documents you requested. You can change your mind at any time by writing to the ISRA Data Coordinator www.sharkrayareas.org/contact. All personal details provided will be treated with respect. For any information you can visit our Privacy Policy.
    Please read the User License Agreement and ISRA Layer Metadata Description

    This form uses Google reCaptcha to reduce spam. Privacy - Terms