Climate Witness Accounts
Stormy Weather Sets In
By Monifa Fiu, Marine Science Officer, WWF South Pacific
Lately, the weather has been uncertain. The sound of pounding waves on the reefs were louder than normal and the big waves which sweep across the beach have been daring! Imagine this: big waves washing up the white sand and piling it up further where the coastal shrub grows, or in some places, shifting much of the beach elsewhere along the coastline. How about the wave of destruction which battered luxuriant coral growth at the foreshore? The branching Acropora coral and the foliose corals were now turned to rubble, the more robust brain coral colonies overturned by the impact of these big storm waves.
The shifting sand caused by the storm waves have also caused havoc in the seagrass meadows it seems. But could it be that the force of the waves beating on the tidal area caused dispersal of seagrass to other areas where it had not been growing? The seagrass meadow seems much larger than before.
A walk on the beach, several observations have been made including the litter of dried seagrass which formed a line on the white sandy beach where the high tide has been. Large and broken white coral skeletons, coral rubble and the occasional Nautilus shell litters the beach. The turn of bad weather has prevented the village men to go out spear fishing and the women with their hand lines at the reef.
At least the lasting spell of heavy rain provided much needed water to fill tanks in the village. Even the kumala patch and plantations are greener.