Palau International Coral Reef Center visits Kayangel State for reef surveys, community collaborations, and educational outreach

Palau Aquarium Researchers and Communications and Outreach Officers from the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) recently visited Kayangel State for an overnight trip to conduct pilot reef surveys, run a community meeting on coral restoration, and deliver presentations to the students at John F. Kennedy Elementary School.

The group departed from PICRC on Thursday, August 29th and completed surveys on two sites at Ebiil Channel in Ngarchelong. These patch reefs were identified as areas of interest for coral restoration by Ngarchelong community members in early August. The initial surveys allowed the researchers to assess whether coral restoration is necessary and possible on these reefs. This work forms part of a PICRC project with advisory support from The Nature Conservancy, Newcastle University, and University of Queensland, which focuses on creating and testing a climate-smart, community-driven adaptive management framework for coral reefs in Palau.

On the evening of Thursday, August 29, PICRC held a community meeting with Kayangel State community members. The meeting consisted of two presentations—one was an overview of PICRC’s work and the other was on research specific to Kayangel State. Mr. Victor Nestor presented results from the ongoing monitoring surveys conducted on Ngeruangel Marine Reserve in Kayangel.

Following the presentations, a coral restoration workshop was carried out to get ideas from community members about coral restoration work and to identify potential coral restoration sites in their state. In total, there were 24 participants and 4-5 potential sites for coral restoration were identified. The following morning, the Aquarium team conducted pilot surveys on two of the identified sites.

On Friday, August 30, PICRC’s Interim CEO, Caryn Lkong Koshiba, and Communication and Outreach Officers visited John F. Kennedy Elementary School to deliver presentations to the students. Topics covered included an overview of PICRC’s work, the importance of mangroves, and deep-sea exploration. The PICRC-JICA coastal ecosystem management project team supported this outreach by providing mangrove-themed stickers and t-shirts to the students. 

“It was a productive few days in Kayangel State with reef surveys, community meetings, and outreach,” stated Koshiba. “We would like to thank our partners in Kayangel for making this possible. We will continue our efforts to bring PICRC’s programs to them.”