Arnarvon Islands are a group of islands in

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. They are located in

Isabel Province Isabel Province (also spelled Ysabel) is one of the provinces of Solomon Islands. The province had a population of around 35,257 as of 2020, mostly concentrated on the main island, Santa Isabel Island. The capital of the province is Buala on Sa ...

and nearby to

Wagina Island Wagina Island (also Wiginna Island sometimes spelled Vaghena Island) is a small island in the country of Solomon Islands. The easiest way to reach Wagina is by plane to Kaghau Airport, Choiseul Province, from Honiara (currently twice a week). Fro ...

Choiseul Province Choiseul Province is one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. It lies southeast of Bougainville (part of Papua New Guinea), west of Santa Isabel Island, and north of Vella la Vella, Kolombangra & New Georgia. It has a population of 36 ...

Geography

The Arnavon Islands consist of: * Major islands: *#

Sikopo Sikopo is an island in the Solomon Islands; part of the Arnarvon Islands in Isabel Province. It lies in Manning Strait, which is between Choiseul Island and Santa Isabel Island, and which connects New Georgia Sound New Georgia Sound is the sound ...

Kerehikapa Kerehikapa is an island in the Solomon Islands; it is located in Isabel Province. It is part of the Marine Protected Area of Arnarvon Islands. Internet On February 1, 2011, a VSAT broadband Internet system was installed at the permanent conservati ...

Maleivona Maleivona is an island in the Solomon Islands; it is located in Isabel Province Isabel Province (also spelled Ysabel) is one of the provinces of Solomon Islands. The province had a population of around 35,257 as of 2020, mostly concentrated on ...

* Minor islands *# Tuma *#

Leko Leko may refer to: * Leko (surname) * Leko languages, a small group of African Savanna languages * Leco language, a moribund isolate language of Bolivia * Lekolite or Leko, a type of stage spotlight * Alexandro da Silva Santos or Leko, Brazilian fo ...

Conservation area

The Arnarvon Islands are home to the Arnarvon Marine Conservation Area, which encompasses between Santa Isabel and Choiseul islands in the Manning Straights. The Conservation Area was established in 1995 and was the first community-managed marine conservation area in Solomon Islands. It is a nesting ground for critically endangered

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is largel ...

s. Sightings of

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (''Tursiops aduncus'') is a species of bottlenose dolphin. This dolphin grows to long, and weighs up to . It lives in the waters around India, northern Australia, South China, the Red Sea, and the eastern co ...

(''Tursiops aduncus'') have been confirmed in the Conservation Area. The Arnarvon Marine Conservation Area is identified as an area with high biodiversity and conservation values. Reef sites in the Arnarvon Marine Conservation Area were surveyed in 2014 around Kerehikapa and Sikopo within the boundaries of the conservation area, as well as the area around Malakobi, which lies outside the conservation area. The site at Kerehikapa had an average of 51% LCC, which was the highest average live coral cover of all areas surveyed in the Solomons. One site had the highest overall with 69% LCC. Algae accounted for an average of 30% around Kerehikapa and was composed predominantly of crustose

coralline algae Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...

and turf algae. Kerehikapa was dominated by ''

Acropora ''Acropora'' is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. ''Acropora'' species are some of the major reef corals r ...

'', followed by ''

Porites ''Porites'' is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-developed wall reticulum and are bilaterally symmetric ...

''. These two dominant genera accounted for over 40% of the coral observed at this site. Sikopo had only 30% LCC when compared to Kerehikapa with significant amounts of coral rubble and very little reef structure, which may have been damage caused by the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

that struck Isabel Province in April 2007. The dominant genera around Sikopo were ''Acropora'' and ''

Montipora ''Montipora'' is a genus of Scleractinian corals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of the genus ''Montipora'' may exhibit many different growth morphologies. With eighty five known species, ''Montipora'' is the second most species rich coral genus ...

'', with ''

Cyphastrea ''Cyphastrea'' is a genus of massive reef building stony corals in the family Merulinidae Merulinidae is a family of reef-building stony corals. Characteristics All the genera in this family are colonial, reef-building corals. Skeletal struc ...

'' at greater levels as compared to other regions of the Solomons. The survey outside of the conservation area at Malakobi identified live coral cover ranged drastically from 8-45%. The average algal cover of 52% was evenly spread among crustose coralline algae, erect coralline algae, macroalgae, turf, and turf with sediment. Malakobi was dominated by ''Acropora'', '' Isopora'' and ''Porites''.

References

Islands of the Solomon Islands {{SolomonIslands-geo-stub