The waters of the tropical
western Pacific within the triangle formed by Guam, the
Philippines, and New Guinea are home to the richest collection of marine plants and
animals in the world. Near the center of this triangle—7° 30' north latitude and 134°
30' east longitude—lies the archipelago of Palau, a string of islands around which
more different marine species can be found than anywhere else on earth.
The Australian marine
biologist Robert E. Johannes who nominated Palau at the
'Seven Wonders of the World' meeting in1989, called the archipelago his marine
Mecca, the destination of choice for his scientific pilgrimages.
Writing about Palau,
he gave some telling examples of what diversity means there.
"A few years ago,
"two colleagues of
mine collected one genus and thirteen species offish new to science
while diving on the reefs near Palau's district center. The magnitude of this achievement
can be judged by the fact that each year, only seventy-five to a hundred new species
offish are discovered worldwide by researchers in marine and fresh water.
Another colleague recorded
163 species of corals in less than twenty feet of water on a
400- yard-long survey in Palau's main harbor—twice as many species
as have been
found in the entire Caribbean to a depth of 300 feet."
Using seagrass as an
example, Johannes describes how the diversity of tropical
marine life diminishes as one moves away from Palau:
"Palau has nine species
of seagrass. Yap, 350 miles away, has only five. Still further to
the west is Truk, with four. Ponape is next, with two. And by the time we get to the
Marshall Islands, roughly fifteen hundred miles away in the central Pacific, we find only
one".
Johannes observes that
Palau's high marine diversity is matched by a wide range of
habitats, "a greater variety than can be found in any similar-sized area in the world."
Within the approximately ninety-mile-long archipelago, there are fringing reefs,
lagoons, patch reefs, barrier reefs, mangrove swamps, and seagrass beds—not to
mention the islands' three dozen marine lakes. Each of these secluded salt-water
pools, surrounded by dense jungle, harbors a unique assortment of marine species,
"forms," writes Johannes, "which could only have evolved in such sheltered
conditions." Even during typhoons, the waters of these lakes are completely
protected.
The marine lakes are
complemented by Palau's numerous marine coves, which
evolved geologically as erosion rejoined some lakes to the sea—often very
tenuously. "Some have a single entrance so narrow that visitors can only get in at
high tide in a small boat," writes Johannes. In one, marine biologists were astonished
to find all seven of the world's species of giant clams.
Palau is not easy to
get to, so the impact of tourism is still minimal. The Micronesian
culture of the Palauans is relatively intact. Palauans respect and care for their
surroundings, and their traditional customs are intended to prevent the depletion of
the fishes and other marine life they depend on.
