true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

NEW ZEALAND & PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

NEW ZEALAND & PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION

Kingman Reef ISRA

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Kingman Reef ISRA

Kingman Reef

Summary

Kingman Reef is located in the northernmost of the Line Islands in the northern-central Pacific Ocean. This area is remote and uninhabited, situated at 67 km northwest of the next closest island (Palmyra Atoll). Kingman Reef is a largely submerged triangular atoll with a benthos dominated by reef-building corals and crustose coralline algae. This area is part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument of the United States of America. It overlaps one Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area and two Key Biodiversity Areas. Within this area there are:  threatened species and undefined aggregations (Grey Reef Shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos).

Kingman Reef

Kingman Reef

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Kingman Reef is located in the northernmost of the Line Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean. This area is halfway between the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa and lies 67 km northwest of the next closest island (Palmyra Atoll). The area is a largely submerged triangular atoll, with shallow (<2 m) reefs along the southern and northern sides that are connected by a deeper (>20 m) reef along the western terrace (Friedlander et al. 2010). The atoll lacks permanent emergent land, although two small rubble islands lie near the eastern ends of the shallow reefs. The forereef habitat is fairly consistent along the northern and southern coasts, beginning with a gradually sloping terrace extending 30–60 m from the reef crest with a drop-off beginning at ~20 m depth. The benthos of each habitat is dominated by reef-building corals and crustose coralline algae (Friedlander et al. 2010).

Kingman Reef is located in the Central Pacific high productivity zone, a large-scale oceanographic feature, comprising the western extent of flow from the Pacific South Equatorial Current. This westerly flowing cool upwelling tongue of water brings high nutrients to the surface waters of the central Pacific Ocean supporting high primary production (CBD 2024). Mean sea surface temperature is 27.9 °C and coral cover is 43.8% (Sandin et al. 2008). The oceanic primary productivity ranges between 147–445 mg C-m-2 -day-1 which represents one of the highest compared to other areas in the central-western Pacific (Nadon et al. 2012).

This area partly overlaps with the Equatorial High-Productivity Zone Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA; CBD 2024). It also overlaps with two Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA): Palmyra Atoll Marine (KBA 2024a) and Proposed Central Pacific World Heritage Site (KBA 2024b). This area overlaps with the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument of the United States of America.

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthopelagic and is delineated from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to 30 m based on the bathymetry of the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

One Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species regularly occurs in the area. This is the Endangered Grey Reef Shark (Simpfendorfer et al. 2020).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C5 – UNDEFINED AGGREGATIONS

Kingman Reef is an important area for undefined aggregations of one shark species.

Between August–September 2005, two studies compared reef shark abundance in the Line Islands (i.e., Palmyra, Kingman, Tabuaeran, and Kiritimati atolls) using belt-transect dive surveys at shallow depths (2–12 m) (DeMartini et al. 2008; Sandin et al. 2008). These studies demonstrated that Kingman Reef had a higher abundance of reef sharks compared with Palmyra, Tabuaeran, and Kiritimati. Top predators dominated this area, where reef sharks contributed 74% to top predator biomass (329 g/m2) (Sandin et al. 2008). Sharks contributed 62% to total reef fish biomass in this area (DeMartini et al. 2008).

Between 2004–2010 in the central-western Pacific Ocean, reef sharks were recorded biennially around 46 US individual islands, atolls, and banks (i.e., Mariana, Hawaii, American Samoa, Wake, Phoenix, Jarvis, Johnston, and Line islands) on surveys (divers towed behind a boat) that each covered >0.01 km2 on forereefs at 15–20 m of depth (Nadon et al. 2012). Sites were grouped in 15 locations according to their geographic proximity. Line Islands, where Kingman Reef is located, had the third highest abundance for all reef sharks (Line Islands = 4.5 individuals/0.01 km2; this area = 6.8 individuals/0.01 km2 in which the most observed species was the Grey Reef Shark (71% of all reef sharks).

Between August–September 2007, surveys (n = 135) were conducted on SCUBA around the entire area except for the western terrace which was too deep (>30 m) to survey (Friedlander et al. 2010). The Grey Reef Shark was the largest contributor to overall biomass among all habitats pooled at 10 m. This species accounted for 38% of the biomass on the forereef, 13% on the patch reefs, and 13% on the backreef (Friedlander et al. 2010). The Grey Reef Shark was the first-ranked species by weight, among all three depth strata on the forereef with the highest density at 20 m (1.68 t/ha). In this area, the Grey Reef Shark has an average of 38.5 (±73 SD) individuals per 0.01 km2. In nine surveys, between 200–450 sharks per 0.01 km2 were recorded. In 28, 11, and six surveys, 50, 100, and 150 individuals per 0.01 km2 were recorded, respectively (Pristine Seas unpubl. data 2015). The contribution of the Grey Reef Shark ranged from 38% at 5 and 10 m to 56% at 20 m (Friedlander et al. 2010). Grey Reef Sharks (n = 105) measured in average 133 (±23 SD) cm TL with a range between 83–183 cm TL (Friedlander et al. 2010). Considering the size-at-maturity (120–142 cm TL for females, 130–145 cm TL for males; Ebert et al. 2021), most individuals were adults.

Diver spatial point count surveys (n = 154) were conducted between 2007–2015 in this area (Papastamatiou et al. 2017). The results showed that the greatest abundance of Grey Reef Sharks was located on the forereef (surveys = 86) with an average aggregation of 2.55 (±0.29 SD) and a maximum aggregation of 12 sharks.

The Grey Reef Shark is a highly social species, which aggregates by day in or near reef passes or lagoons, and becomes more active at night, when aggregations disperse (Ebert et al. 2021). However, more information is needed to determine the nature and function of their aggregations at Kingman Reef.

Kingman Reef

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