#Status of Coral Reefs 2002 - International Coral Reef Action Network

Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2002
The average coral cover on 8 reefs in Kimbe Bay, New Britain PNG, shows a serious declining trend
from 70% cover to around 20% in 6 years following several bleaching events and damage from
sediments from lands cleared for oil palm plantations flowing onto the reefs during floods.
representative sample of inner, middle and outer shelf reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, as
well as reefs off Western Australia (Ningaloo, Scott Reef and Rowley Shoals). Other
agencies of national and state governments and universities conduct additional coral reef
monitoring on the Solitary islands to the south of the GBR and on some spatially
separated reefs of northern and western Australia. There are an increasing number of local
NGOs that are undertaking coral reef monitoring, mainly using Reef Check methodology
The GBR Marine Park is classified into four sections of the GBR, with hundreds of reefs in
each section. Thus, observations on reef condition in each sector are based on
observations of a representative proportion of those reefs. The best information on reef
status is for the GBR Marine Park and some reefs of Western Australia. However there are
large areas of reefs and coral communities for which there is only anecdotal information.
Eastern Australia
GBR Far Northern Section: Because these reefs are remote, monitoring is irregular; 10
reefs were surveyed in 2001 and average reef wide coral cover was 27% (range 10-43%)
which is the similar to the 2000 report (26%). COTS were seen on most reefs but in very
low numbers.
GBR Cairns Section: These reefs are close to shore and the basis for a major tourism
industry, and are also close to a mountainous hinterland that receives high rainfall. The
amount of fresh water, nutrients and sediment flowing towards the inshore reefs is higher
than most other areas of the GBR. There was a repeat of coral bleaching on inner-shelf
reefs in 2002 and increased levels of ‘white syndrome’ disease on outer shelf reefs in the
north. In 2001, 32 reefs were surveyed by manta tow and had a mean reef-wide hard coral
cover of 21% (range 3-43%). These results are the same as reported in 2000. Video
surveys of sites on the northeast sides of 18 reefs indicates there has been a small decrease
in coral cover from 31% in 1999 to 27% in 2001.
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