Status of Caribbean coral reefs after bleaching and hurricanes in 2005

Sponsoring Organisations, Coral Reef Programs and Monitoring NetworksCRTR - CORAL REEF TARGETED RESEARCH & CAPACITY BUILDING FORMANAGEMENT PROGRAMThis is a leading international coral reef research initiative that provides a coordinated approach to credible,factual and scientifically-proven knowledge to support coral reef management. The CRTR Program is apartnership between the Global Environmental Facility, the World Bank, the University of Queensland(Australia), the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and approximately40 international research institutes and other third parties around the world. The CRTR Program is a proactiveresearch and capacity building partnership that aims to lay the foundation in filling crucial knowledge gapsin the core research areas of coral bleaching, coral reef connectivity, coral diseases, coral restoration andremediation, remote sensing and modelling and decision support. Each of these research areas are facilitatedby Working Groups underpinned by the skills of many of the world’s leading coral reef researchers. The CRTRalso supports four Centres of Excellence in priority regions, serving as important regional centres for buildingconfidence and skills in research, training and capacity building. For contact: The Project Executing Agency,C/- Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072 Australia, info@gefcoral.org:www.gefcoral.org.GCRMN - GLOBAL CORAL REEF MONITORING NETWORKThe GCRMN was formed in 1995 as an operational unit of ICRI. The GCRMN is in partnership with ReefBase,Reef Check and NOAA, which constitute the central direction. The GCRMN is sponsored by IOC-UNESCO,UNEP, IUCN, CBD, the World Bank, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, WorldFish Center and the ICRISecretariat and central coordination is supported by the US Government and UNEP. IUCN currently Chairs theManagement Group of the GCRMN, and the Global Coordinator is hosted at RRRC and interacts closely withThe WorldFish Center. The GCRMN seeks to encourage and coordinate three overlapping levels of monitoring:zx Community - monitoring by communities, fishers, schools, colleges, tourist operators and touristsover broad areas with less detail, to provide information on the reef status and causes of damageusing Reef Check methodology and approaches;zx Management - monitoring by predominantly tertiary trained personnel in Government environmentor fisheries departments, and universities for moderate coverage of reefs at higher resolution anddetail using methods developed in Southeast Asia or comparable methods;zx Research - high resolution monitoring over small scales by scientists and institutes currentlymonitoring reefs for research.Equal emphasis is placed on monitoring to gather ecological and socio-economic data, with manuals availablefor both. A major objective is to produce 2 yearly national, regional and global Status of Coral Reefs Reports,such as those that form the basis for this report. The GCRMN functions as a network of independent RegionalNodes that coordinate training, monitoring and databases within participating countries and institutes inregions based on the UNEP Regional Seas Programme:zx Red Sea and Gulf of Aden - Middle East assisted by the Regional Organisation for the Conservationof the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) Contact: Abdelelah Banajah,Abdelelah.Banajah@persga.org; or Mohammed Kotb mohammed.kotb@persga.orgzx The Gulfs – the Persian/Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea - assisted by RegionalOrganisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME). Contact:Hassan Mohammadi,ropme@qualitynet.net; or Peyman Eghtesadi, eghtesadi@inco.ac.irzx Eastern Africa – assisting Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania operating through theCORDIO network in Mombasa. Contact: David Obura in Mombasa, dobura@africaonline.co.ke andNyawira Muthiga, nmuthiga@wcs.org;zx South Western Indian Ocean Island States - coordinating Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius,Reunion and Seychelles with assistance from the Global Environment Facility and Indian OceanCommission. Contact: Jude Bijoux, j.bijoux@scmrt-mpa.sc or Rolph Payet, rolph@seychelles.sc137