USFWS/NCTC Conservationists in Action

Halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa lies the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Palmyra consists of a circular string of about 26 islets nestled among several lagoons and encircled by 15,000 acres of shallow turquoise reefs and deep blue submerged reefs. It is the northernmost atoll in the Line Islands of the equatorial Pacific. Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was established in 2001, by the Secretary of the Interior. In 2009, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established. Palmyra Atoll is one of seven National Wildlife Refuges within the Marine National Monument. Only Palmyra is open for public visitation. The Monument represents one of the last frontiers of scientific discovery in the world and is a safe haven for Central Pacific biodiversity. The Monument and the national wildlife refuges within it protect entire ecosystems – from coral reefs to deep seamounts, abyssal plains, and volcanic features. In this episode of Conservationists in Action, Randy Robinson talks with Ryan Hagerty, Senior Video Producer and Regional Diving Safety Officer, about his experience working with the dive team on a pilot project to control the invasive "crown-of-thorns" starfish and prevent an outbreak on the remote Palmyra Atoll.