Summary

Description

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), in support of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) sponsored a marine biological survey at Wake Atoll, located approximately 2,100 miles west of Honolulu at 19 deg 18 min North Latitude and 166 deg 35 min East Longitude. On behalf of the SMDC, biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were invited to Wake Atoll in June 1998. The purpose of the visit was to conduct baseline marine biological surveys in the vicinity of the Peacock Point outfall pipe and to examine the sites of other point-source discharges to the marine environment (i.e., power plant, desalinization plant, and stormwater outlets). The biologists were asked to (1) generally characterize the coral-reef habitats within the vicinity of the outfall, (2) document the primary species of reef fishes, corals, other macroinvertebrates, and algae that exist in those habitats, and (3) investigate whether the reef communities at the other sites appeared to have been impacted by the discharges.