The status of marine resources and coral reefs in Nauru

Abstract

Nauru is a single island country situated in the middle of the vast Pacific ocean, about 60 km south of the equator, at latitude 0°31’S and longitude 166° 55’E. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba also known as Ocean Island in the Republic of Kiribati, about 300 km to the east. Sydney is about 4000 km to the south, Tokyo, some 4800 km to the north west and Honolulu about 4200 km to the north east. Nauru is an ancient submerged volcano with a karstified limestone cap of coral origin about 550m thick (Hill and Jacobson 1989), measuring 6 km long by 4 km wide with a circumference of 18 km and a total land area of 21 km2. The central plateau forms about 80% of the island with the highest point to 70 m above sea level. The remaining land area is composed of a flat coastal terrace measuring 300 1000 m wide and with a mean elevation of about 3m above sea level. The shallow intertidal fringing reef measures 110-320 m in width, and sloping 45° angle to the ocean floor to a 4000 m depth. Dalzell & Debao (1994) estimated that the total intertidal reef area down to the 200 m isobaths measures 7.4 km2.