Session 9 - Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring

Reef Check Global Survey Program: The First Step in Community-based Management [Adobe Acrobat Format 44 Kb]

For thousands of years, humans have exploited coral reef organisms for use as curios, jewellery, and food. Coral reefs have been considered self-replenishing resource systems that could serve as a continuous source of wild stocks. In contrast, terrestrial systems such as forests and agricultural lands, have long been managed to ensure sustainable production of resources and, more recently, to achieve biodiversity conservation goals. In 1997, the first Reef Check global survey of coral reefs was carried out (Hodgson 1999), revealing the extent to which increasing populations of humans have been damaging coral reefs at an unprecedented rate. A major new finding of the Reef Check survey was that overfishing was much worse at far more locations than expected, and particularly bad at many reefs remote from cities. This survey, using standardised scientific methods, confirmed anecdotal reports from scientists, fishermen and recreational divers, of declining coral reef health. A second Reef Check global survey in 1998 confirmed the previous results, and demonstrated the importance of having a global network of monitoring stations in order to track the effects of an unprecedented global bleaching and mortality event that was particularly severe in the Indian Ocean (Wilkinson et al. 1999).

Establishment of Coastal Ecosystem Monitoring Programs: Lessons Learned by CARICOMP [Adobe Acrobat Format 25 Kb]

CARICOMP is a Caribbean scientific enterprise that has studied the structure and functions of mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs at diverse sites across the region, since 1992. It focuses on monitoring productivity of mangroves and seagrasses, and coral reef community composition. The 20 active sites are located in less-disturbed areas (in 18 countries) and yield baseline information for management. Central funding has provided a Data Management Centre staffed by a Data Manager, training workshops, manuals in English and Spanish, an annual meeting and a set of basic monitoring equipment for each site. Participating Marine Laboratories and Parks have provided personnel, fuel, boat and diving facilities. The network has also made synoptic studies of regional disease events and has begun to study the ways in which natural resources are used by human coastal communities.

Development of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) in South Asia: Preliminary Lessons [Adobe Acrobat Format 71 Kb]

In July 1997, with support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), a program was initiated under the auspices of IOC-UNESCO and partner agencies to develop a regional component of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) in three countries in South Asia. The GCRMN is a major component of the ‘Research and Monitoring’ element of the 1995 Framework for Action of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI).

Resources for coral reef monitoring in South Asia are as scarce as in any region of the world. Therefore from the outset of the GCRMN South Asia program, strong attention was given to assessing and ultimately addressing the related issues of resource-scarcity and long-term sustainability. During the intervening 18 months, two points in particular have emerged which may be of general relevance to the ongoing development of monitoring programs in other areas. The first is the importance of directly addressing economic and livelihood issues as the primary focus for coral reef monitoring activity. The second is the potentially high value, and also the inevitable limitations, of involving non-specialists from community-level groups in coral reef monitoring activities.

Conservation International’s Marine Rapid Assessment ](RAP) [Adobe Acrobat Format 39 Kb]

Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) is a mechanism for providing baseline biodiversity information on a selected forest, freshwater, or coral reef area. RAP surveys are ‘quick-and-dirty’ field assessments produced by a team that has as its core a number of expert field biologists. The information is analysed in tandem with socio-economic data in order to recommend conservation priorities and to help guide local ecosystem managers. With 28 surveys (plus four training courses) so far completed in South America, Central America, West Africa, Madagascar, South-East Asia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, RAP has proven an effective tool in conservation planning, especially in identifying priority areas for conservation.

Session 9 Report: Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring [Adobe Acrobat Format 18 Kb]