All that blinding white sand is quite surreal. I guess this is why there is this really small print on the poster...
Probably just in case there is a suit for misrepresentation.But where does white sand come from? Originally. And why don't Singapore's shores have the powdery white sand that people seem to love?
Here's an article about the white sands of Fiji. Which are threatened because the sand-makers (what a lovely polite term) are being over-harvested.
Sand makers endangered species
Fiji Daily Post 4 Sep 08;
WHITE sandy beaches are assets to any country that thrives on the tourism dollar and Fiji is definitely no exception.
That’s why you see it being splashed across magazines, newspapers, posters and television to market our tourism industry.
It’s this picturesque view that immediately attracts the tourist to pay a hefty sum to enjoy it.
But have you ever wondered how these white sandy beaches are formed? Many would rightfully say that it’s made of crushed rocks, formed by weathering such as rain, freezing, thawing, wind and water so forth or friction by rocks being bashed against each other in a stream or the sea.
So, isn’t all sand supposed to be coloured depending on the natural geology of the area or the different types of rock being eroded - sandstone is yellowish, red sandstone is reddish, granite is grey and volcanic is black.
So what makes white sand? Believe it or not, but they are actually the excretions or waste of parrot fish. They eat the coral and poo white sand.
Fiji Locally Marine Managed Area national coordinator Sunia Waqainabete says parrot fish are the sand-makers because they eat the corals, grind it through their digestive system and then pass it out as waste.
Waqainabete says the amount of white sandy beach in an area shows the population of parrot fish that exist there.
“Those white sandy beaches are produced by parrot fish and that means there is a lot of parrot fish activity in that area,” he said.
Unfortunately, the numbers of parrot fish found in our waters are declining.
One of the species of parrot fish which could become endangered is the bumphead which is the largest of all parrot fish.
They are plant-eaters but they mostly feed on live coral.
Waqainabete says that bumpheads are becoming a vulnerable species because of their high mortality rate due to overfishing and their delayed reproduction stage.
He adds, that this can in turn affect the production of sand in an area.
“The bumphead takes a long time to reproduce because it takes about 7-8 years to reproduce and it shows that it takes a long time to reach reproduction stage,” says Waqainabete.
“Because there is a lot of slaughtering and killing their numbers have reduced.
“It has become vulnerable because they are captured before they reproduce so they need to be protected.”
He adds that the bumphead parrot fish are often in danger because they always travel in schools and always rest at night.
There have been feedbacks from the local communities that bumphead have been seen in large numbers but in marine protected areas or places untouched by humans.
“This had been reported from Macuata but they are also present in untouched areas like central Lau.
“But at the moment they are still classed as vulnerable,” he said.
Despite the large numbers of bumphead being sighted, overall their population has been on a decline due to heavy exploitation, according to Waqainabete.
The Mamanuca Environment Society (MES), a non-government organisation that raises awareness on the importance of the ocean in the Mamanuca group, says the bumphead species is slow-growing and long-living and has a delayed reproduction stage and slow replenishment rate.
MES is concerned about the numbers of bumpheads in the Mamanuca islands because they know how important they are to the production of sand in the area.
The Mamanuca group of islands has many resorts and is a top tourist destination.
Conservationist in the area fear the loss of bumpheads could mean fewer sand and fewer tourists in the long run.
Bumphead parrot fish are commonly found in the day in coral reef habitats, especially fringing or barrier reefs around depths of 3 to 10m.
At night, they usually sleep in groups on shallow sandy bottoms or in caves, making them very vulnerable to stressors.
The juveniles are usually found in seagrass beds in the lagoons.
It is a valuable commodity in the live fish trade but catches have decreased dramatically over the years because of the divers taking advantage of the ‘kalia’s behaviour of sleeping in reefs in the night’.
According to Wikipedia that even though parrot fish are considered to be herbivores, they eat a wide variety of organisms which live on coral reefs.
Some species may include coral polyps in their diet.
And their feeding activity is important for the production and distribution of coral sands in the reef and could also prevent algae from choking coral.
During its feeding the coral rock is ground up by its teeth. After they digest this it is excreted as sand thus at times creating small islands.
At night they force themselves into crevices, some species secreting a thick coat of mucus, like a little surrounding bubble.
The mucus is thought to mask their scent from nocturnal predators such as the moray eel and may serve to protect the fish from infection by parasites.
Because they are always in schools there could be 100 to a thousand in a school said Waqainabete.
Wikipedia also mentions that grazing parrot fish of most tropical species form large schools grouped by size.
Harems of several females presided over by a single male are the norm in other species, the males vigorously defending their status at any challenge. Curiously, if the dominant male of a harem is removed, one of the females will change sex and adopt the terminal male colouration.
Parrot fish are pelagic spawners; that is, they release many tiny buoyant eggs into the water which become part of the plankton. The eggs float freely, settling into the substrate until hatching.
Furthermore, the protection of parrot fish could protect the reefs from being smothered by overgrown algae or seaweed and also produce white sandy beaches.
Waqainabete also said people had to understand that the bumphead parrot fish takes a long time to reproduce and they needed to grow and be protected when they are small.
Alumeci Nakeke is an Ocean Science Reporter with SeaWeb. SeaWeb is a non-profit organisation that works to amplify and clarify the messages of local scientists and ocean experts, and to connect journalists and decision-makers to ocean issues and specialists.
ALUMECI NAKEKE - SeaWeb
