Marine Life of Papua New Guinea

• PNG biodiversity is renowned, the marine life of this vast country is some of the richest on the planet
• PNG reef systems are very unique due to the location of the islands between Indonesia and the broader pacific basin
• PNG marine life belongs to the Indo-west/central-Pacific group, and is most common to nearby areas such as the Solomon islands, and northern Australia that comprise the Indo-Australian-Archipelago
• PNG reefs remain pristine due to remoteness and lack of pressure exerted by a massive human population base such as Indonesia
• PNG has over 15,000 sq/mi of coral reefs that support little or no commercial fisheries, and a relatively sparse coastal population
• PNG marine environment is so vibrant that estimates indicate that the country has twice the marine species as the Red Sea, and five times the Caribbean
• PNG has many varied reef systems such as Barrier reefs rimmed by steep walls that plunge into the abyss, or lagoons with sheltered coral gardens and patch reefs
• PNG contains numerous war wreckage from WWII- aircraft, ships, and submarines immersed for over 60 years are now the home of dense marine growth and vast shoals of fish
• PNG “The Ocean of Adventure”

Reef Fauna of Papua New Guinea

The massive island of New Guinea lies near the ‘Center of Dispersion’ and is, therefore, endowed with a magnificent lushness not found in other oceanic regions. This region, which is encompassed by the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, the Philippines, and Melanesia, contains an astounding profusion of biological richness unmatched anywhere on the planet. For most of the representative tropical marine organisms there is more breadth and depth within this region than any other on earth. This may be displayed in a readily apparent way by comparing the number of reef-dwelling damselfish species present in a given region. The world wide species count is 320. Within Indonesia, the heart of the tropical seas, the count is 123 represented; New Guinea has 100, Fiji 60, Hawaii 15, the entire Eastern Pacific 22, and the entire Western Atlantic 19.

Why are Indonesia and this ‘Center of Dispersion’ including New Guinea so amazingly rich? Certainly foremost among the most significant factors is the relatively long-term history of favorable climatic conditions. Add to this, a great diversity of habitat types, coupled to a tumultuous geological and hydrological history. These conditions combine to produce the planets most diverse and beautiful tropical marine environment.

New Britain, and more specifically the Straits of Vitiaz and Dampier, not only presented strategic benefits to which great power controlled the area during World War II, but also create a barrier, or gateway if you will, to the flow of marine organisms. The location of New Britain just north and east of New Guinea and the geographical lie of the island (southwest by northeast) is in fact the progenerator of the Bismarck Sea and the Solomon Sea. New Britain, which lies roughly 5-degrees south of the Equator, is subjected to the general easterly flow of the oceanic currents of this part of the western pacific basin. These currents which sweep in the rich organisms from the far off Makassar Strait of Indonesia are the source of the great lushness of the reefs of New Britain.

So, one can see how the western end of New Britain is just calling out to us, the members of the OE team, promising a wealth of discoveries, some made by man, and lost in war, others created by God and cast within this spectral sea.