TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => The Islands: Expeditions, Facts, Castaway, Finds and Environs => Topic started by: Mark Petersen on July 08, 2010, 06:28:49 PM
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I read an interesting story about a 2004 dive trip through the Phoenix Islands by the "Planetary Coral Reef Foundation" and thought that others might also find it interesting reading. It really belongs in a general interest thread about Nikumaroro and since there isn't one, I took the liberty of starting one, but moderators feel free to consolidate this into other threads.
http://www.pcrf.org/explogphoenix.html
On their dive trip to Nikumaroro they wrote this, "On the evening before we departed, Michel, Heather and Kitty watched an incredible scene unfold before them. They were looking for the dolphins but instead found a pod of false killer whales. Michel sought contact with them in the water – but a two metre marlin kept coming between them, with each pass coming closer and closer to Michel. The razor-sharp bill pointed straight at Michel, he made several emergency exits from the water. After he had made his final leap into the Zodiac, the whales gathered around the marlin and tore him to pieces. The three watched in amazement, smelling the carnage and the blood from the small boat."
From what I've read it sounds like the shark population is also large and active at Niku. Did the Tighar members who went to Niku find this to be the case too?
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I wasn't aware of the PCRF but they sound pretty amateurish. We've never seen any "false killer whales" at Niku but we've never been there in November/December. It's tropical cyclone season and definitely the WRONG time of year to be out there.
The shark population at Niku is, indeed, large and active. Mostly Blacktip Reef Sharks. Not very big (a five foot Blacktip is a big Blacktip) but big enough if they get aggressive - which they do not infrequently. We've never had anyone get hit but we've had some nervous moments. On this last trip our cameraman, Mark Smith, was wading across Tatiman Passage and got bumped hard by a Blacktip who was apparently curious to know whether Mark would fight back. The answer was yes so the shark went looking for more cooperative prey.
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I don't think I would want to be out there during cyclone season either : :o.... The PCRF guys also mentioned that the Blacktips were aggressive at Tatiman passage.
Their dive log can be found towards the end of the link. It looks like they did 6 dives off of Niku including one at the Norwich wreck site and another north of the wreck and probably north of the Nessie site too (which is where they spotted the False Killer Whales). Unfortunately there is no mention of spotting any radial engines in the coral though... :)
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Very interesting reading. Shows that no matter how remote the island group there always appears to be visitors to the islands. Also interesting to read again about Kanton and the environment that we the west have left the islanders to live in.
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Very interesting reading. Shows that no matter how remote the island group there always appears to be visitors to the islands. Also interesting to read again about Kanton and the environment that we the west have left the islanders to live in.
Yes I agree. Reading about the other islands helps to put Niku into a better context. Somewhere I read about another expedition to Niku (might have been the National Geo one), I'll try to find the link. If I recall correctly it mentions that the south-east side of the island (by the 7-site) is the most protected side...
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Very interesting reading. Shows that no matter how remote the island group there always appears to be visitors to the islands.......
Indeed! And visitors of all sorts, at that.
If someone else has already posted this, my apologies. Otherwise....I ran across http://www.outcastearth.com/ameliasshadow.htm (http://www.outcastearth.com/ameliasshadow.htm) a couple of weeks back.
Curious, if nothing else.
Ummmm....Love to Mother
....tb
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Not curious. Totally bogus. They were never there.
Niku is remote but it's not inaccessible. If I had to guess, I'd say that someone drops by on the average of once a year. Because neither of the passages into the lagoon is navigable, virtually everyone who visits the island (except TIGHAR) limits their activities to the area near the landing channel. To get to other parts of the island requires either walking a small boat through Tatiman Passage at high tide or making a long, hot hike along the shoreline.
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Expanding on Ric's "Totally bogus," see Rick Jones' note about the Outcast Earth webpage nearly 3 years ago, along with Tom King's response about that group. The postings are down near the bottom of the archived forum file for October 2007 (http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/forum/Forum_Archives/200710.txt), dated 22 Oct 2007 and timestamped about 19:46 hours.
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Not curious. Totally bogus. They were never there.
Niku is remote but it's not inaccessible. If I had to guess, I'd say that someone drops by on the average of once a year. Because neither of the passages into the lagoon is navigable, virtually everyone who visits the island (except TIGHAR) limits their activities to the area near the landing channel. To get to other parts of the island requires either walking a small boat through Tatiman Passage at high tide or making a long, hot hike along the shoreline.
I stumbled across that site a year or so ago and it appeared to me to be fictitious. Just someone making a webpage with photographs and verbiage they have picked up online. Are any of those photos from your collection?
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Are any of those photos from your collection?
No, and none of them show anything on Niku.
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Not curious. Totally bogus. They were never there.
Actually.....I would say that was patently obvious. (Just the money and other logistics of getting there all by itself would preclude such things, I'd think. At least on that scale.)
Being new around here I'm not one to rabblerouse. However, my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek as I posted that link. As I said, I ran across that a few weeks back and had a bit of a chuckle over the whole concept of it.
Anyway...all of that aside and back on a serious note...
Other than the occasional academic biological excursion, does anyone visit Niku on any sort of regular basis? I mean is there any sort of patrol or some such carried out by the Kiribati government?
....tb
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Other than the occasional academic biological excursion, does anyone visit Niku on any sort of regular basis? I mean is there any sort of patrol or some such carried out by the Kiribati government?
No. In fact, one of the reasons Kiribati requires us to take along a Kiribati government representative (this time we had to bring two) at our expense is that it's the only way they get a chance to check on the island.
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Are any of those photos from your collection?
No, and none of them show anything on Niku.
You're right. Their photo purporting to show Niku through the stormclouds is obviously fake. The photo shows a much more rugged coastline that has to be 100s of feet or more in elevation while Niku, from everything I've read, is barely above sea level. The photo of the wreck that purports to show the Norwich City also doesn't match with other photos that I've seen of the wreck. Here is a direct link to the faked photos:
http://www.outcastearth.com/assets/images/NIKUfirstsight.jpg
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As promised, I collected a bunch of links describing other visits to Niku. Initially it looked like it was many different trips but instead they all seem to be from a 2009 trip with the primary purpose of monitoring the health of coral reefs. It looks like they also chartered the Naia. Interesting reading for divers...
National Geo:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0402/feature3/
http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/09/september-13-2009after-nearly-six-days-of-sailing-we-reachednikumaroro-island-around-10-am-today-the-tiny-spec-of-land.html
http://www.ngsprints.co.uk/p118657/Print:-Baby-Reef-Sharks-Circle-a-Dive-Guide-in-Nikumaroro-Lagoon./product_info.html
New England Aquarium
http://pipa.neaq.org/2009/09/searching-for-invasive-species-on.php
http://pipa.neaq.org/2009/09/first-dive-photos-from-nikumaroro.php
http://pipa.neaq.org/2009/09/reporting-on-fish-populations-coral.php
Woods Hole
http://pipa-expedition.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-long-way-to-nikumaroro.html
Conservation International:
http://blog.conservation.org/2009/09/expedition-phoenix-islands-blog-from-the-boat-blue-water-diving-6/
http://blog.conservation.org/2009/09/expedition-phoenix-islands-blog-from-the-boat-5/
http://www.conservation.org/explore/discoveries/dispatches/pipa/dispatches/Pages/dispatch_6.aspx
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As promised, I collected a bunch of links describing other visits to Niku. Initially it looked like it was many different trips but instead they all seem to be from a 2009 trip with the primary purpose of monitoring the health of coral reefs. It looks like they also chartered the Naia. Interesting reading for divers...
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New England Aquarium
http://pipa.neaq.org/2009/09/searching-for-invasive-species-on.php
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Interesting to note in this particular article there is (brief and only a passing) mention of a Niku cat population.
Any other expeditions (Tighar or otherwise) observe this?
....tb
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I don't know where the NEAQ and PIPA are getting that little bit of information, or how Tukabu "knew there were cats on this island", but we've spent a whole lot more time on the island than either of them and as far as I know, TIGHAR has never in run across a live cat on Niku in 9 expeditions out there. I'll put the question to EPAC and find out for sure.
There are little polynesian rats on all parts of the island. They are more like big brown mice. They prey on the crabs, and the crabs (and probably some birds) prey on the rats, so I don't think Niku needs cats to keep the rat population in check. They do, apparently, get quite aggressive during the dry spells.
The rats were there before the British brought the colonists. Trying to eradicate them now would be quite some project. Might have to import some cats, then owls to get rid of the cats, and then colonists to get rid of the owls, then......
Andrew McKenna
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Thanks for the info, I was wondering about cats being on Niku myself as I've never read about that in the Tighar pages. One other question, one of the links mentions that Niku was used in the late 1800s by Whalers. Was that the last known habitation before the USS Colorado overflight? What was the size of the camp? It must have been a white knuckle exercise back then to land on Niku in a wooden boat before the landing channel was dynamited.
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TIGHAR found the remains of a cat in the village during one early visit and also reported hearing but not seeing cats in the jungle.
Also of note is the structure that they identify as a 'temple' is more likley a pit used for growing crops?
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Thanks for the info, I was wondering about cats being on Niku myself as I've never read about that in the Tighar pages. One other question, one of the links mentions that Niku was used in the late 1800s by Whalers. Was that the last known habitation before the USS Colorado overflight? What was the size of the camp? It must have been a white knuckle exercise back then to land on Niku in a wooden boat before the landing channel was dynamited.
Follow link for brief history of the island and you will see that coconut planting was carried out at the tail end of the 19th century
http://tighar.org/wiki/History_of_Nikumaroro
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We saw one very dead and desiccated cat in the Co-Op Store during our first visit to the island in 1989. No sign of cats since then. TIGHAR has spent far more time on far more parts of the island than anyone since the settlement was abandoned in 1963. We know the place better than anyone. We've seen no evidence of a surviving cat population. PIPA's announced intention to perhaps try to eradicate the rats would be alarming if there was any chance they would actually do it. The island has a large population of Polynesian rats (Ratus exulans) that has been happily in residence for hundreds if not thousands of years. Lord knows what killing them off would do to the ecosystem. Nothing good.
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Interesting to note in this particular article there is (brief and only a passing) mention of a Niku cat population.
Any other expeditions (Tighar or otherwise) observe this?
A dead cat was found in the village on Niku I (1989) (http://tighar.org/wiki/Niku_I): "Yes, dead, in the then-standing Co-op Store building at the landing, in 1989. Whole, dessicated" (Tom King to EPAC).
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Interesting to note in this particular article there is (brief and only a passing) mention of a Niku cat population.
Any other expeditions (Tighar or otherwise) observe this?
A dead cat was found in the village on Niku I (1989) (http://tighar.org/wiki/Niku_I): "Yes, dead, in the then-standing Co-op Store building at the landing, in 1989. Whole, dessicated" (Tom King to EPAC).
sure i read somewhere that you've heard cat noises in the jungle but you are the experts.
When they talk on other islands of exterminating rats arn't they talking about no 'local' rat types such as those from visiting vessels?
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I've never heard any cat noises on Niku. Norway rats (Rattus rattus) from vessels would be worth exterminating but I'm not aware of any such rat problem on any of the islands in the Phoenix Group.
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I've never heard any cat noises on Niku. Norway rats (Rattus rattus) from vessels would be worth exterminating but I'm not aware of any such rat problem on any of the islands in the Phoenix Group.
must have dreamed the noise bit up! Just read through all my available texts + the website and TIGHAR Tracks. Just shows how your mind plays tricks with you. :)
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I've never heard any cat noises on Niku. Norway rats (Rattus rattus) from vessels would be worth exterminating but
I'm not aware of any such rat problem on any of the islands in the Phoenix Group.[/quot]
PIPA Executive Summary of the 2009 Invasive Species Removal Report
http://www.phoenixislands.org/shownews.php?newsId=50
Some non Asia Rats - Rattus rattus + Rabbits !!!!!
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I've never heard any cat noises on Niku. Norway rats (Rattus rattus) from vessels would be worth exterminating but
I'm not aware of any such rat problem on any of the islands in the Phoenix Group.[/quot]
PIPA Executive Summary of the 2009 Invasive Species Removal Report
http://www.phoenixislands.org/shownews.php?newsId=50
Some non Asia Rats - Rattus rattus + Rabbits !!!!!
In H. E. Maude's report (http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Documents/maude.html#b11):
"The fauna of the Group can be dismissed briefly as consisting of... rats and crabs. Phoenix Island has a large number of very poor-looking rabbits, released many years ago by a visiting ship, of which more anon; and Gardner some of the largest coconut, or robber, crabs in the Pacific."
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In H. E. Maude's report (http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Documents/maude.html#b11):
"The fauna of the Group can be dismissed briefly as consisting of... rats and crabs. Phoenix Island has a large number of very poor-looking rabbits, released many years ago by a visiting ship, of which more anon; and Gardner some of the largest coconut, or robber, crabs in the Pacific."
Sir Harry Luke, From a South Seas Diary: Seven rabbits were taken to Gardner Island to "increase that island's food resources" (p. 228).
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I think the crabs must have eaten the rabbits.
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Interesting to note in this particular article there is (brief and only a passing) mention of a Niku cat population.
Any other expeditions (Tighar or otherwise) observe this?
A dead cat was found in the village on Niku I (1989) (http://tighar.org/wiki/Niku_I): "Yes, dead, in the then-standing Co-op Store building at the landing, in 1989. Whole, dessicated" (Tom King to EPAC).
sure i read somewhere that you've heard cat noises in the jungle but you are the experts.
When they talk on other islands of exterminating rats arn't they talking about no 'local' rat types such as those from visiting vessels?
ok now i know the warning about the forum to be true. While researching something else i found the info i aluded to in this post from a while ago!!!
The only mammals on the island today (as far as we know) are rats, which are quite numerous. Feral dogs and cats have been reported; we observed one not-too-long dead cat corpse in 1989, and occasionally have heard what sound like cat cries in the forest, but have never seen a live representative.
From this page
http://tighar.org/wiki/Location_and_Geology_of_Nikumaroro
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Unless .... unless it was the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I know, my bad.
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Unless .... unless it was the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I know, my bad.
Could be. I hear that rabbit's dynamite!
....TB
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Send in the TIGHARS who say Ni ;)
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Unless .... unless it was the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I know, my bad.
O good lord- now you've done it! Combined Monty Python with the TIGHAR forum. Run away...run away!
See- now you've got me doing it too!
ltm- who never appreciated British humor
Jeff Lange
#0748C
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Go change your armor. A basic familiarity with the film seems to pervade nearly all TIGHAR researchers. I'm not sure what that says about us but i'm sure it's profound.
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So who is the first person willing to visit Castle Anthrax? Me me me!
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I think Mark is looking forward to a little spanking time....
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Yes and after the spanking comes the, er ahem, okay moving right along.... :)