Wilkinson, 2008:

Synopsis

"Coral reefs of the world have effectively marked time since the last report in 2004. Some areas have recovered well after the climate change bleaching in 1998 and human damage; while the Indian Ocean tsunami, more bleaching in the Caribbean, and human pressures have slowed or reversed recovery.

Estimates assembled through the expert opinions of 372 coral reef scientists and managers from 96 countries are that the world has effectively lost 19% of the original area of coral reefs; 15% are seriously threatened with loss within the next 10–20 years; and 20% are under threat of loss in 20–40 years. The latter two estimates have been made under a ‘business as usual’ scenario that does not consider the looming threats posed by global climate change or that effective future management may conserve more coral reefs. However, 46% of the world’s reefs are regarded as being relatively healthy and not under any immediate threats of destruction, except for the ‘currently unpredictable’ global climate threat. These predictions carry many caveats, as explained below.

In 2008, the International Year of the Reef, there is a mixture of good and bad news in this Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2008 report. Several major events have damaged coral reefs since December 2004 when the previous ‘Status 2004’ report was released. But there have also been major positive steps taken to conserve the world’s coral reefs. Some steps have been forward and some steps backward. Significant backward steps were:

• The Indian Ocean megathrust earthquake and tsunami struck on 26 December 2004 with enormous loss of life and disruption to Indian Ocean countries. There was considerable damage to the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean, but not at a scale comparable to human losses (Box p. 130);
• 2005 was the hottest year in the Northern Hemisphere since 1998 and this resulted in massive coral bleaching and hurricanes throughout the wider Caribbean in 2005 killing many corals and further damaging their reefs;
• Degradation of coral reefs near major centres of population continues with losses of coral cover, fish populations and probably biodiversity. This is certainly happening around the ‘Coral Triangle’, the world’s centre for marine biodiversity (p. 55);
• There is increasing evidence that global climate change is having direct impacts on more and more coral reefs with clear evidence that rising ocean acidification will cause greater damage into the future;
• Socioeconomic assessments are increasing on coral reefs and being used more in management decision making. These assessments are being employed to strengthen or re-invigorate traditional management structures, especially in the Pacific where many traditional management regimes remain intact;
• However, coral reef declines will have alarming consequences for approximately 500 million people who depend on coral reefs for food, coastal protection, building materials and income from tourism. This includes 30 million who are virtually totally dependent on coral reefs for their livelihoods or for the land they live on (atolls);
• Problems for coral reef managers are increasing, as 50% the world’s population will live along coasts by 2015, putting unsustainable pressures on coastal resources. The reefs they manage will contain less attractive but tougher corals. Rising food and fuel prices, commercialisation of fishing activities and the global financial crisis are resulting in over-fishing and serial depletion of fish stocks in many poor countries; and
• The solution remains in establishing more Marine Protected Areas linked into networks and managed by all stakeholders, especially user communities.

Countering such gloomy news, are some major advances:

• Two enormous marine protected areas (MPAs) focused on coral reefs have been declared in the Pacific; the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument covering the North-west Hawaiian Islands and the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) were declared by the governments of USA and Kiribati respectively (Boxes p. 224, 195);
• Large areas of the coral reefs around New Caledonia have been given World Heritage listing (Box p. 184), and more areas are under consideration elsewhere;
• Coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, especially in the Seychelles, Chagos and the Maldives, and Palau in the Western Pacific, have continued to recover from the devastating bleaching of 1998;
• In December 2007 President Yudhoyono of Indonesia gained support and funding from world leaders for the ‘Coral Triangle Initiative’ to conserve the coral reef resources of Southeast Asia (p. 55);
• This initiative theme was expanded to include Western Pacific countries that border the Coral Triangle when President Remengesau of Palau instigated the Micronesia Challenge with other leaders who made commitments to conserve 20% of the land and 30% of the waters as protected areas in linked networks (p. 48);
• Soon after, Prime Minister Ingraham of The Bahamas gathered 4 of his neighbours to form the Caribbean Challenge that seeks to conserve 30% of their coastal resources (Box p. 280);

In addition, there have been other positive activities for coral reefs including:

• The International Coral Reef Initiative, currently co-chaired by Mexico and the USA, declared 2008 as the International Year of the Reef and developed major awareness raising campaigns around the world;
• The 11th International Coral Reef Symposium assembled 3500 scientists, managers and decision makers in Ft Lauderdale, USA, in July 2008 to bring the power of science to coral reef conservation (p. 43);
• Reef Check has organised 20 700 signatures on the ‘Declaration of Reef Rights’ petition launched in the International Year of the Reef;
• The Pew Environment Group is working with developed country governments to declare very large areas as no-take marine reserves, including the Coral Sea of Australia, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and the Kermadec Trench, off New Zealand;
• The Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building for Management Program established 4 Centres of Excellence to build science capacity for management (p. 47)
• CRISP (Coral Reefs Initiatives for the Pacific) has expanded operations into 17 Pacific island countries with considerable progress in raising capacity for reef management and socioeconomic assessment (p. 45 )
• The French and USA governments completed major national coral reef summary reports in 2008; the South West Pacific Node produced a regional report in 2007: the French and SW Pacific Node reports were presented in GCRMN format;
• The Global Environment Facility has allocated $100 million as the Pacific Alliance for Sustainability to bring Pacific countries together to conserve their environments. Part of this money is going towards the Coral Triangle Initiative and the Micronesia Challenge;
• Germany has launched a new Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre based at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt; it will have a significant coral reef component."

AND

"Great Barrier Reef: The GBR covers approximately 350 000 km2 including 2000 individual reefs along the east coast of Queensland. It was officially protected in 1975 with the establishment of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) and declared a World Heritage Area in 1981. The GBRMP was rezoned in 2004 to include 33% of the area as no-take ‘green’ zones to protect ecosystem resilience and provide ecological ‘insurance’ against increasing pressures. The GBR has considerable research and management infrastructure such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), universities (particularly James Cook University and the University of Queensland), the Marine and Tropical Science Research Facility and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency. The GBRMP is primarily managed through marine park zoning that allows different uses to occur in different areas. Fishing is regulated through fisheries management arrangements overseen by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

There is a long history of research and monitoring on the GBR, ranging from major, inter-agency research programs to many small independent research projects. The AIMS Long-term Monitoring Program has conducted annual manta-tow monitoring since 1986, with more intensive scuba surveys of coral reef benthos and fish at fixed sites since 1993. The program was altered in 2006 to monitor the effects of GBRMP rezoning with reef monitoring now conducted every two years.

Coral cover on the GBR is greatly affected by disturbances such as cyclones and outbreaks of COTS (Acanthaster planci) and, to a lesser extent, by coral bleaching and disease. The GBR appears to be in a period of recovery and growth; COTS activity has declined following the third recorded ‘wave’ of COTS outbreaks. In 2006–2007 only 4–6% of reefs surveyed showed significant COTS activity and no COTS activity was recorded on the Swains reefs in the southern GBR; the first time the Swains reefs have not had COTS activity since the mid 1980s.

Hard coral cover has increased in the Cairns, Whitsundays and Swains regions of the GBR with the highest cover being in the Capricorn-Bunker (55%) and the Whitsunday (46%) sectors.

Coral cover was lowest on mid-shelf reefs in the Townsville sector which is recovering from COTS outbreaks. Coral cover on outer-shelf reefs in the northern GBR has declined by 50% in the last two years from very high levels recorded in 2000. This decline is attributed to storm damage and coral disease.

The increase in no-take reserves in the GBRMP has resulted in positive ecological flow-on effects. The biomass and density of target fish species has significantly increased in the 4 years since the new zoning was introduced (Box p. 164), and COTS outbreaks appear to be significantly reduced within no-take reserves (Box p. 162), suggesting that there are ecological processes operating within no-take reserves that are not fully functional elsewhere.

Although the GBR is in relatively good condition and has world best practice management, it faces on-going challenges. Many components of the GBR ecosystem may be highly vulnerable to climate change including increasing evidence of the emerging threats of ocean acidification.

The resilience of the GBR may be reduced by human pressures: declining water quality is already affecting some inshore coral reefs with observed changes in community composition and density and diversity of juvenile corals on some reefs. There is also emerging evidence that community composition on inshore reefs has significantly changed since European settlement started 200 years ago. Extractive activities such as fishing may alter ecological processes and trophic pathways (Box p.162); and the density of top predators such as reef sharks appears to have been significantly reduced on some reefs. While the GBR coastal population is small compared to other areas, it is rapidly increasing and bringing greater pressures for development and use of the GBRMP.

There are approximately 3800 km² of mangrove and saltmarsh habitat along the GBR coast, with this area remaining relatively stable. However these mangrove forests are only remnants of more extensive forests that have been progressively cleared since European settlement started 200 years ago. Some localised losses of mangroves have occurred and the main pressures are from continued coastal development.

NO-TAKE MARINE RESERVES REDUCE COTS OUTBREAKS
It has been suggested that human activities such as nutrient enrichment of coastal waters through terrestrial runoff, and the removal of predators through fishing, may influence outbreaks of COTS. Extensive surveys of the GBRMP over a 10 year period of active COTS outbreaks occurring after no-take reserves were fully implemented (1994–2004) showed that the relative frequency of COTS outbreaks was 3.75 time higher on ‘open’ reefs compared to reefs zoned as ‘no-take’ marine reserves. While these data are clear, there is no obvious explanation for these differences. The main target species (groupers and snappers) extracted from the ‘open’ reefs surveyed are not considered to feed on COTS. This suggests that no-take marine reserves preserve some ecological links or a trophic pathway that indirectly control COTS numbers...

GBR seagrasses are highly variable and are particularly affected by storms and floods. There are approximately 46 000 km2 of deep and shallow seagrass beds with no apparent widespread declines, although there have been localised losses. Seagrasses are affected by declining water quality, coastal development and localised impacts.
Further information: The AIMS Long-term monitoring program:

• http://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/monitoring/reef/reef-monitoring.html

Science and research on the GBR:

• http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/info_services/science_management
• http://www.rrrc.org.au/

ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE REZONING OF THE GBR MARINE PARK
The inshore coral reefs of the GBR Marine Park predominantly fringe continental islands. Due to their proximity to population centres, these inshore reefs are frequently visited and subject to significant levels of recreational fishing pressure. High levels of compliance and relatively effective surveillance and enforcement also mean that these inshore reefs are some of the best protected within the GBRMP. Monitoring of fish populations using underwater visual census (UVC) was initiated in 1999–2000 to assess the effectiveness of zoning protection since late 1980s on reefs of the Palm, Whitsunday and Keppel islands. Published results focused on the major target of GBR hook and line fisheries, the coral trout (a grouper, Plectropomus spp.): after 12–14 years of protection, coral trout biomass had increased 3–6 fold within no-take marine reserves while there were no increases in surrounding fished areas. The GBRMP zoning plan was updated in July 2004 and the area of no-take marine reserve was increased from 4.5% to 33.4%. New studies revealed that after only 1.5 to 2 years of no-take protection, the coral trout density had increased significantly in newly protected areas (by about 65% in 2 island groups), but there were no significant changes in areas open to fishing. These early results provide an encouraging message that bold political steps to protect marine biodiversity can produce rapid positive results for exploited species."

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Citation and/or URL

Wilkinson, C. 2008, Status of coral reefs of the world: 2008. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, Townsville, Australia

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Spatial Coverage

 Global

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Temporal Coverage

 up to 2008

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Update Frequency

 Every four years 

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Other Information

 None