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By Naomi Sodetani
Russell Amimoto, assistant marine coordinator with The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, recently reached several conservation milestones in his life.
In April, Amimoto completed the first year of his two-year marine fellowship with the Conservancy. As part of his marine conservation training, Amimoto had visited Palmyra Atoll a few weeks prior, where he was “blown away” exploring one of the world’s most isolated, diverse and spectacular coral reefs. He also learned that even this remote ecosystem faces its own conservation challenges.
Located 1,000 miles south of Hawai‘i, Palmyra’s lagoons, coral reefs, islets and submerged lands support a teeming abundance of life — from its rare predator-dominated reefs where sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, exotic fish and giant clams thrive to its nesting grounds for a million seabirds and native stands of Pisonia grandis forest, one of the last strongholds in the Pacific.
The Conservancy’s Hawai‘i chapter co-owns and co-manages Palmyra in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the newly designated Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Through a partnership with the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium, scientists come from around the globe to conduct studies in this natural laboratory.
For the return leg of his journey to Hawai‘i, Amimoto took the helm of Hōkūle‘a — the iconic traditional Hawaiian open-ocean canoe that had sailed to Palmyra — and became its newest deep-sea captain, bringing the vessel and crew safely home. The Palmyra voyage was the first in a series of rigorous, long-distance training missions the canoe’s crew members must undertake to prepare for Hōkūlea’s circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
During the 15-day voyage, the crew relied only on traditional non-instrument “wayfinding” — navigating by wind, swells, stars and birds — amid “perfect storm” conditions. A grueling series of squalls brought 20-foot waves crashing onto the voyagers, soaking them for the duration of the trip in their foul-weather gear.
Amimoto returned from his Palmyra sojourn with indelible memories. Here our marine fellow reflects on his experiences and Palmyra’s lessons of sustainability and stewardship for Hawai‘i and beyond.
How did Hōkūle‘a motivate you to get involved in ocean conservation?
Hōkūle‘a was a big, big part of my life growing up. Ever since I was little I was always attracted to the ocean, whether it was Sandy Beach shorebreak, diving, fishing, paddling or surfing — pretty much anything I could do in the water. But since I got involved with Hōkūle‘a when I was 15, it really turned me around from just seeing the ocean as a place to play in or use. It opened my eyes to other things going on with the ocean as well. While sailing, I learned the values of sharing, learning, respect, responsibility, and a love for the environment. It was kind of my first step into the conservation realm. I woke to the fact that my kuleana (responsibility) is to take care of the ocean I love.
Why did Hōkūle‘a go to Palmyra?
Palmyra was a part of our training sails, getting more crew ready and also building our leadership capacity for our around-the-world voyage. The main purpose for the world voyage is to help bring awareness to Hawai‘i, as well to communities the canoe will visit in more than 20 countries, and it is about the importance of sustainability and conservation.
What is life on the canoe like?
One of the first things I learned from Hōkūle‘a and living in Hawai’i is that living on an island we have limited resources and only so much space where people can live without getting overcrowded. You only have so much food and water you can drink before you run out. Water’s our most precious resource on the canoe, just like on land. And you gotta get along with each other and keep the canoe clean because it’s a small environment. You really have to learn to work together for survival’s sake. It goes on and on. You can directly relate life on the canoe to living on islands — and, at the same time, you can relate that to the entire earth as an island in space.
What were the highlights of your visit to Palmyra?
Palmyra was just an unreal experience. I saw some good things and some bad things, but overall it was an awesome learning experience for me.
What I first heard about Palmyra is that it’s a beautiful pristine place. But what I didn’t know about Palmyra was how much the natural environment was changed by the Navy during WWII. Artificial islands were dredged from the lagoon to build runways for the military. These causeways interrupt water flow and circulation, causing sediment and algae to build up on the reefs. One of the big things that impacted me was to see the negative effects of dredging and how long it takes to get back to normal conditions. Even in a healthy environment like Palmyra it’s taken so long for it to recover, and the water clarity is pretty poor in some places because of all the dredging that was done.
At the same time it was amazing. Inside the lagoon, just the amount and the variety of fish that were still in there. My first two days on Palmyra were basically on land in the lagoon working on the canoe; I was getting things ready for the sail back. But the day before we left, we got a chance to get outside and do a quick snorkel, and it was just amazing. I was the first guy to jump in the water and everything was just live coral — purple, green, blue — just unbelievable! Sharks were swarming everywhere. And then there were these giant clams all over the place, huge schools of blue ‘uhu, manini, surgeons keeping the reef clean and healthy.
I actually started screaming underwater and people thought something was wrong but I was just really excited. It was cool to see that, especially after doing a lot of dives here (in the main Hawaiian islands). Being able to compare the two was amazing. I think Palmyra shows us there is hope to restore Hawaii’s ocean.
How do your voyaging experiences tie into your marine fellowship?
To me they fit together like pieces of the same puzzle. Both tie into my love of the ocean and both expand my experiences and knowledge about the ocean, which I can take everything in and get a sense of the big picture [mauka to makai relationship]. Being involved with Hōkūle‘a and the Conservancy I have learned a lot about the ocean and myself. My goal is to be able to share that with other people who don’t have the same opportunities so hopefully they can learn from it, so that they too can enhance their relationship with the ocean.
What has your first year as a marine fellow been like?
Marion Ano (also a marine fellow) and I have learned so much in just this first year — but at the same time, there’s so much to learn, and much to be done. We’ve been really lucky to have major exposure to a lot of opportunities and we’ve met and learned from amazing people from all walks of the conservation field on all the islands. We’ve visited ancient fishponds and done stream monitoring on Moloka‘i, we’ve done limu pulls working with local communities, fishing surveys, we checked out the fish auction and met Jack Randall, the leading fish expert in Hawai‘i.
So, we’ve been everywhere, done a lot of everything, but the learning curve never stops. We got our SCUBA certification and just finished our scientific diver’s certification. But, just like being onboard Hōkūle‘a, you just keep on going and growing.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Russell Amimoto (Hōkūle'a at Palmyra Atoll); Photo © Monte Costa (black-tipped shark, Palmyra); © Russell Amimoto (Russell Amimoto fishing aboard Hōkūle'a).
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