Cook Islands

17
Feb
2021
Nodule mining impact on benthic megafauna

Nodule mining impact on benthic megafauna

Gerald McCormack, Natural Heritage Trust
First published CI News 11 Feb. 2021, last update 23 Mar. 2021.

Examples of sessile and slow-moving benthic megafauna in the South Penrhyn Basin (SPB).

This article discusses the likely impact of nodule mining on the megafauna associated with nodules in the South Penrhyn Basin (SPB), from Penrhyn southward to Aitutaki and Palmerston. This impact was not among those discussed in the Trust’s 2016 booklet: “Cook Islands Seabed Minerals – a precautionary approach to mining”.

Benthic megafauna is recorded by still photography and video because these animals are larger than four centimetres and they are all visible on or above the seabed. Continue reading →

Posted by Gerald in Animals, Deep Seabed Mining, Marine, 1 comment
16
Feb
2021
Tree-ferns – Our Living Fossils

Tree-ferns – Our Living Fossils

Joseph Brider, Natural Heritage Trust.
First published online (16 Feb 2021).

Tree-fern

Budding Tree-fern (Cyathea decurrens). Photo: CINHT

Scattered throughout the Rarotonga inland forest are our Tree-ferns, known locally as Panga. These plants are not trees, they are ferns which have evolved a trunk-like stem to lift their leaves up off the forest floor in order to seek life-sustaining sunlight.
Continue reading →

Posted by Joseph in Ecology, Plants, Terrestrial, 0 comments
10
Feb
2021
Will Seabed Mining Increase Climate Change?

Will Seabed Mining Increase Climate Change?

Gerald McCormack, Natural Heritage Trust
First published CI News 26 Sept. 2019, modified 10 Feb. 2021.

South Penrhyn Basin nodules above the sediment

In July 2019, the Greenpeace report “In Deep Water” warned: “By impacting on natural processes that store carbon, deep sea mining could even make climate change worse by releasing carbon stored in deep sea sediments or disrupting the processes which ……. deliver it to those sediments. Deep sea sediments are known to be an important long-term store of ‘blue carbon’, the carbon that is naturally absorbed by marine life, a proportion of which is carried down to the sea floor as those creatures die.”

Continue reading →

Posted by Gerald in Climate Change, Deep Seabed Mining, 0 comments
10
Feb
2021
Matariki Dusk Rising 14th November

Matariki Dusk Rising 14th November

Gerald McCormack, Natural Heritage Trust
First published CI News 14 November 2020, updated

Pleiades detail and its passage across the Southern Hemisphere sky

The Matariki or Pleiades is a cluster of several hundred stars. To the naked-eye the nine brightest stars form a distinctive, eye-catching group with a glowing background, a bit larger than a Full Moon. People with dark-adapted eyes and excellent distance vision can see eight or nine stars, while most people report five or six.

Traditionally, some Polynesians used the dawn rising of Matariki as the signal marking the next lunar years, while others used the dusk rising as the signal.

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Posted by Gerald in Astronomy, Culture, 0 comments
12
Jan
2021
Golden Plover Migration to Alaska

Golden Plover Migration to Alaska

Gerald McCormack, Natural Heritage Trust

Plumage

During February and March the Pacific Golden-Plovers (Tōrea) transition from their dull non-breeding plumage into contrasting breeding plumage.

Holidaymakers gather in the airport departure lounge to leave for home, and as the boarding time approaches they hear entertainer Jake Numanga announce somewhat solemnly “Well, it’s time to go”. During February and March, Golden Plovers or Tōrea are also gathering around the airport grasslands to leave for home in Alaska. I wonder if they have a Jake bird announcing “Well, it’s time to go”?
Continue reading →

Posted by Gerald in Animals, Ecology, Terrestrial, 0 comments