07.14.12 YAP: Jonathan blogs about the Shark Petition

Yap Games 2012 was a greatly anticipated event that took place at the Yap States Sports complex from June 17 to June 30. Some municipalities organized themselves and their youth to participate in the many sports activities and trained well before the anticipated date to get their athletes into shape for the event. This was the second year the Yap Games has been hosted. It was a great event that brought the youth and everyone together to enjoy the sports event and join together in camaraderie, cheering the athletes on to victory. 

To take advantage of the event, an MC awareness booth was setup to provide free water servings to the athletes as well as spectators and passersby. At the tent, information on natural resource management was shared and support for the Micronesia Regional Shark Sanctuary was solicited. Shark sanctuary petitions including informational pamphlets and fact sheets were circulated to the attending crowds at the games. This petition acknowledged each signing individual’s agreement of the importance of sharks in Marine ecosystems, recognized certain threats to the sharks, and agree that legislative actions should be taken to protect shark population within the FSM region. Thanks to the MC booth team the petitions were signed by a good amount of people as well as lots of positive feedback. The movement of “good resource management” through conservation is just beginning.

06.20.12 PALAU: Summer Camp

Just want to update you guys with what we have been up to. 

Well, for the past week, we have been assisting the Education Department at the Palau International Coral Reef Center prepare for the Arts and Crafts Week, which will be held from June 4-8, 2012. Arts and Crafts Week is a public awareness tool targeted at children ages 6-10. Its aim is to train young children to become aware of the importance of our reefs. By learning more about the different marine animals that make their homes in their reef and their basic needs for survival, children at a younger age can understand the need to keep our oceans clean and appreciate these natural resources. 

During Arts and Crafts Week, children use their artistic skills to sketch and color the animals they observe in the aquariums, learned about the basic need for different marine animals to survive, and use their creativity skills to assemble and design crafts with marine themes, and painted marine animal patterns on fabrics. Participants bring home with them all the crafts and artwork they create during the week. We attended the classes which was from 9:00 am-11:30 am, and assisted the kids with their artworks and activities. 

In addition, the class went on a field trip to Dolphin Park to learn the importance of the marine environment and Palau’s eco system.

That’s what we have been doing lately ! So stay tune til’ next time.  

The Ladies!☺.

Arts & Crafts Class of 2012 with Mrs. Sandra Sumang Pierantozzi, CEO of PICRC

05.18.12 PALAU: Coral collecting and Temperature Assessment

Hi Everyone!

It's been a while since you’ve heard from us since our last blogging which was about a month ago. So we just want to update you guys with what’s been going on.

We have been assisting the people from with the Aquarium Department to do temperature readings. We went to collect corals at Ngerchelngael, which is a rock island known to have a variety of living corals. We then brought the corals that we collected, back to the Center and placed them in the Outer Reef Tank. But, before placing them in the tank we had to clean the tank, by taking out the dead corals and placing the corals we collected in an orderly manner.

In addition to the coral collecting, we also did temperature readings for all the tanks in the Aquarium. We had to record and make sure that tanks are at the right temperature to prevent fishes and the marine animals from dying. After checking and recording all the temperatures, we had to consult with the Aquarist and make sure that all the tanks are in the right temperature. Well, that’s about it.

That’s basically what we have been doing for the past months here at the Palau International Coral Reef Center.

Until next time,
- The Ladies

05.11.12 GUAM Pig Hunt Follow-up

Hello May!

These past two months have been crazy for me!

April was Guam's first Pig Derby. As I stated earlier in my blog. The feral pig population has increased on island and has led to damage to infrastructure, loss of plants, and soil erosion. So, on April 13 and 14,  hunters hunted for feral pigs to help reduce their population across the island. The hunters checked in at various mayors' offices. The Dededo, Agana Heights, Talofofo, and Santa Rita mayors' offices were the places the hunters checked in and checked out.The hunt began a half-hour before sunrise and ended at 5:30 p.m. All pigs were counted at that time. At each station, was the rhino-beetle team, their job was to check the stomach content and to see if the Wild pigs are eating the rhino-beetles.

Aguarin and I were stationed in Dededo. We handled registration. We waited for the hunters to come back with some game. Sadly, Dededo had zero, but this information helped us for future derbys. The hunters noticed that it was harder to find the pigs because it was just too hot! The pigs usually hide when its hot or go near the water which made it harder the hunters to catch. However, Talofofo represented with six pigs killed. Joey Terlaje and Joseph Castro fromTalofofo location brought two pigs. One was about 113 pounds and the other was about 84 pounds.

The Pig Hunting Derby was an overall success. I cant wait until they do it again.


Until next time Micronesia,

Francine Cruz

05.10.12 CHUUK: The things you notice...

Visiting the College of Micronesia (COM) - Chuuk Campus, I noticed something strange going on right outside the fence.

Not cool!

There was water pouring out one of the Pacific International Incorporated (PII) big hoses. Upon closer inspection I realized they were pouring sewage out into the ocean, as well as the land near the sea wall that runs along the near shore area of COM.

I couldn’t help but think about the damage this act was causing. Not only are they destroying what is left of the marine resources in that area, but the smell was something the students, as well as faculty, staffs and the people around that area had to inhale almost everyday. I wondered to myself whether our Department of Environmental Protection Agency was aware of this and whether they were doing something about it.

So not cool!

I know that for so long the people of Chuuk have had to face driving on a road that was in need of repair quite badly, but is this more important than the life of our environment? Is this worth losing so many of the things we’ve depended on for so many years? Why are we letting outsiders come in and do whatever they want to do with our environment? In the end, we will be the ones facing the consequences of the actions they are taking today. Not only will we suffer, but the future generation will too.

I think we should start doing something now before this gets out of hand. Not only do I see them pouring sewer out to the ocean, or wherever they want to, but they are slowly decimating our mountains. People living there are losing their homes because of this. We shouldn’t think only about the problems of today, but look towards the future and see how the actions of today will affect the people of tomorrow.


/s/ Kriz in Chuuk

04.30.12 Welcome to the Ladies of Palau

FB Communications

Hello everyone! We're the young champs from Palau and you can call us, Dilu and Lyan (or as Dan Ho would put it--the Ladies.....LOL). 

As you might tell we haven't had the chance to blog earlier because we got on the program late in February. Anyway, let us tell you all what we have been doing for the past weeks or so. We've been helping out at the Aquarium at Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) with informational posters and touring school children around the aqaurium. 

Touring kids from Ngeremlengui Elementary School

With the informational posters, we picked out a sea creature and basically did a background poster. For example, for our first poster we did a background poster for the lobster. We found out that there are 38 different types of lobsters found in the world and then named the different types found in Palau which are Panulirus vesicolor (Painted Spiny Lobster), Panulirus penicillatus (Pronghorn Spiny Lobster) and Panulirus longipes femoristriga (Longlegged Spiny Lobster). Out of those three, the painted spiny lobster is the least common in Palau. As for the tour guide business, we help out as much as we can. We had to read a manual on the proper ways of doing a tour guide of course. Luckily one of us--Lyan to be precise--had the chance to act as co-tour guide for the Ngeremlengui Elementary School during Awareness Week for public schools. A tour with students is fairly easy to do. It could last for an hour or may be less. The only difficult part of it is speaking loud and simple to understand, and trying to keep the kids' attention at the same time. When we do not have any school kids to tour around the aquarium, we pitch in and help the aquarists clean up the aquarium. We want to keep those tanks nice and shiny for the visitors! :)