The Habitat of Tonga
There are many diverse habitats on the island of Lifuka. The main habitat is sparse forest primarily comprised of tall palm trees. The palms hold the sandy soil together and keep the island from eroding into the sea, making them an important featue for the island. The palm forests are exceptionally safe as Lifuka has no large predators and are so flat and thin from coast to coast that it is very difficult to get lost! Vascular plants which also make up the habitat on Lifuka include the endemic conifer Podocarpus pallidus and the orchids Ixora yunckeri and Psychotria kaoensis.
The habitat which is most vulnerable is the coral reefs. The threats to the coral reefs are usually isolated incidents. This involves boats, divers and fishermen being on the reef and damaging it through their activities. For example, boats can damage the reef when driving by them and their propellers hitting off the reef or by dropping anchor which can break and crush the coral.
To avoid this kind of damage our trained diving staff will never drop anchor at the dive sites. Instead the captain will follow the surface marker buoy carried by the dive masters. Damage to the coral reef may be increased due to poorly informed or negligent divers. For example they may touch or collide with the reef which can damage corals and remove years of growth. This will also be avoided by educating our divers each time we go to a dive site just in case as minimising our impact on the coral reef is essential.
Larger debris and discarded rubbish (littering) is able to damage the coral on the reef, for example, plastics are able to wrap around smaller branching corals. To avoid littering we are providing reusable water bottles which can be used all week, as well as litter and recycling bins to ensure no waste is deposited onto the island so our impact on the island habitat is minimal.