Les récifs coralliens de Wallis et Futuna : suivi biologique, état de santé et perspectives d'avenir
2008
Wallis and
Futuna is a small tropical overseas French territory located in the South Pacific Ocean 450 km North from
Fiji and 400 km North-East from Samoa. It is composed of three main islands : Uvea, Futuna and Alofi , and
inhabited by around 15 000 people. A long-term coral reef monitoring program was implemented in 1999 on
six outer slopes sites. Live coral coverages and genus diversity were sampled every 3 years. The initial results
suggested a relative stability of these aspects with no signifi cant changes between 1999 (fi rst surveys) and
2005 (most recent surveys). A comparative study of the three sampled islands shows that highest coral coverages
on Wallis’outer reefs are isolated (by a 1 km or more wide lagoon) from the inhabited land, and therefore
are protected to an extent from natural and human perturbations. The lower coral coverage observed on
Futuna and Alofi may be attributable to the proximity to higher frequency of human and natural terrestrial
stresses due to the absence of a lagoon on these two islands. Anthropogenic activities inducing stresses such
as sewage, land erosion, poisoning and blast fishing have been identified on the sampled islands. Relative to
other Pacific island countries, Wallis and Futuna has a low density human population and a high GNP/inhabitant.
Ongoing French and European monitoring, research and development programmes, provide Wallis
and Futuna with a level of understanding with regard to the status of its coral reef resources. These factors
should contribute signifi cantly to the implementation of effective management of reef resources in Wallis
and Futuna
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