Reef passages are at the heart of the SOCPacific2R research project. In the South Pacific region, the uses, values and issues surrounding reef passages are multiple and complex. Known as outstanding hotspots of biodiversity and productivity, reef passages are of multifaceted significance for the overall health of both coral reef ecosystems and the people who depend on the latter and their ressources to survive. To better understand these keystone spaces/places, we attempted to identify and classify them.
This exploratory work focuses primarily on the archipelagos of French Polynesia, Fiji, and New Caledonia.
It aims to establish a dialogue between various stakeholders to better understand these under-researched social-ecological systems and facilitate the integration of reef passages in future marine/ocean policy and practice.
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The goal of this project is to conduct a transdisciplinary study of reef passages and establish a participatory dialogue around their sustainable futures. In this exploratory work, we identified the reef passafes located on the islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Ovalau and Moturiki (Fiji), Grande-Terre and the Loyalty Islands (New Caledonia), and Tahiti and Moorea (French Polynesia). To identify and characterize these reef passages, we relied almost entirely on information available online (remote sensing, databases, atlases, etc.). On this basis, we believe that cross-examining perspectives with the users and stakeholders of reef passages is essential to properly describe and document them, as well as to understand and value their social-ecological roles.
Through this interface, we invite you to collaborate by pointing out reef passages that may have escaped our remote sensing approach and/or by sharing your knowledge or experience with us on specific reef passages.
To do so, you can complete this feedback form to share with SOCPacific2R's team an observation or suggestion, which will be used to feed and strengthen this webmap.
Note that what we define as a reef passage is a discontinuity in a coral reef that is narrower than the reef elements surrounding it.
This current version of the webmap gives access to several attributes of reef passages, that mainly qualify its environment and morphology, such as :
We are currently working on additional indexes that could help to establish a typology of reef passages that does not exclusively rely on physical or morphological variables, but also takes account of their social-ecological roles.
Source : A Typology for reef passages (Breckwoldt et al., 2022), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.786125
