Diverse Fish and Wildlife in a Unique Setting
Shelly Kremer
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands consists of an archipelago of fourteen tiny islands, strung across nearly 500 miles of the mid-Pacific Ocean. Approximately 70,000 people live on the southern limestone islands of Rota, Tinian and Saipan, while the volcanic northern islands remain primarily uninhabited.
In a way that is typical of island ecosystems, most of the terrestrial wildlife species of the Northern Mariana Islands exhibit a high degree of endemism, occurring nowhere else in the world. The marine environment hosts animals both large – like the Green Sea Turtle and the Hawksbill Sea Turtle – and small – including the Shortspine Sea Urchin, the Common Spider Conch and the Turban Shells. Some animals depend upon both environments; the Wedge-tailed Shearwater, for example, forages at sea, but nests on the tiny islet of Mañagaha.
An Island Approach to Conservation Planning
Curt Kessler
In developing the comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy for the Northern Mariana Islands, an islands framework was adopted. Each of the islands represents its own ecosystem, with its own capacity to support native wildlife, based on its size, the extent and condition of native forest cover, impacts of human population in both the marine and terrestrial environments, frequency of natural disasters (typhoons and volcanic eruptions), and the presence of feral animals. Conservation actions were developed that could be applied to individual island ecosystems to further the conservation of species of special conservation need.
CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife
