Biodiveristy_State of Environment report - Mission Beach Cassowaries

to a low level (1-10%). Large numbers of COTS werepresent and the reef was reclassified as an Active Outbreak.Although COTS certainly played an important role in thedecline of live coral cover, bleaching, which was extensiveon the GBR in 1998, may have also contributed. Smallnumbers of COTS were present in 2002. Reef-wide livecoral cover was low and the reef was classified asRecovering. No bleaching was observed in 2002 and whitesyndrome disease was restricted to small numbers ofscatted coral colonies.Outer Shelf ReefsGilbey- An outer shelf crescentic reef with an area of 6.6 sq. km.This reef has been surveyed five times since 1986 when itwas classified as Recovering from COTS activity. Reefwidecoral cover declined and then recovered to a moderatelevel (10-30%) in 1996. Small numbers of COTS wererecorded during surveys in 1996 and 1999. In 2002 therewere large numbers of COTS and the reef has beenreclassified as an Incipient Outbreak. Reef-wide live coralcover has declined to low levels (1-10%). No bleachingwas observed in 2002 and white syndrome disease wasrestricted to a small number of scattered coral colonies.remain, but below outbreak levels and the reef wasclassified as Recovering in 2002. No bleaching wasobserved and white syndrome disease was restricted tosmall numbers of scattered coral colonies.Wardle- An outer shelf crescentic reef with an area of 11.8 sq. km.This reef has been surveyed eleven times since 1986, whenit was classified as recovering from COTS activity. Therewas a gradual recovery of reef-wide live coral cover to amoderate level (10-30%) in 1997. Incipient Outbreak levelsof COTS were then recorded in 1998 and by 1999 coralcover had declined to a low level (1-10%). COTS numbershad also declined and the reef was reclassified asRecovering. Reef-wide live coral cover was low in 2003and no COTS were recorded. No bleaching was seen andwhite syndrome disease was restricted to a small number ofscattered coral colonies.Moss- An outer shelf ribbon reef with an area of 6.2 sq. km.This reef has been surveyed five times since 1998 when itwas classified as No Outbreak. There has been little changein reef-wide live coral cover which has remained atmoderate levels (10-30%). No COTS have been observedon this reef during any survey and the reef remainedclassified as No Outbreak in 2002. No bleaching wasobserved and white syndrome disease and black banddisease were restricted to a small number of scattered coralcolonies.Noggin- An outer shelf crescentic reef with an area of 9.2 sq. km.This reef has been surveyed by manta tow seven timessince 1986. Reef-wide coral cover has remained moderate(10-30%) with a slight increase in recent years. COTS havebeen observed on this reef during two surveys. In bothinstances they were at low densities that should not havecaused significant coral mortality. Reef-wide live coralcover was moderate (10-30%) in 2002 and the reef isclassified as No Outbreak. No bleaching was observed in2002 and white syndrome disease was restricted to a smallnumber of scattered coral colonies.Potter (A)- An outer shelf submerged reef with an area of 15.7 sq.km.This reef has been surveyed seven times since 1986 when itwas classified as No Outbreak. Reef-wide live coral coverrecovered from low to a moderate levels (10-30%) up until1995, when small numbers of COTS were observed.Surveys in 2000 indicated large numbers of COTS and thereef was reclassified to an Active Outbreak. As a result ofCOTS activity reef-wide coral cover has declined to thecurrent low level (1-10%). Small numbers of COTSxvii