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CoralReefHealthSurvey

TuckersPointResortReef
DanielJacob

Introduction
Thehealthofcoralreefsaroundtheworldisatopicthatisgainingtractionasthe
effectsofclimatechangeandglobalwarming,aswellastheeffectsofglobalisationand
tourismcontinuetodamagethereefseitherphysicallyorthroughbleachingand
disease.Astudywasdonestartingin2008andendingin2012thatsurveyedthehealth
ofcoralreefsinthreeMesoAmericancountriesusingvariousindicatorstheybelieved
wereadequatetodeterminethehealthofthereefs(ReportfortheMesoamericanReef,
2012).Theindicatorstheyusedwerecoralcover(%cover),macroalgalindex(%coverx
canopyheight),keyherbivorousfishbiomass(g/100m2)andkeycommercialfish
biomass(g/100m2),andthecountriestheylookedatwereHonduras,Belize,Mexico
andGuatemala(thoughttherewasnodataforGuatemalain2010)(Reportforthe
MesoamericanReef,2012).Wewantedtousethesesameindicatorstoassessthe
healthofareefatTuckersPointResorttogetabaselineresultbeforetheadditionof
coralgardenstotheareaasanattempttorejuvenatethelocalcoralcommunityin
CastleHarbour.Inthe1940sCastleHarbourwasdredgedtohelpbuildtheAirForce
BaseonSt.Davidsisland,thisdredgingdevastatedthecoralcommunitieswithinCastle
Harbourandthereefshavestillnotrecovered70yearslater(CastleHarbour,
Bermuda).

MaterialsandMethods
SCUBADivingGear
1x30mTransectTape
2x0.25m2Quadrants
Caliper
GoProHero4
UnderwaterPaperandPencil
WritingSlate

One30mTransectlinewaslaidoutalongthereefperbuddypair.Nextthebuddypair
swamslowlyalongthetransectlineastheycompletedaparrotfishsurveyofall
parrotfishwithin1mofthetransectlineoneitherside.Eachparrotfishthatwas
encounteredwascountedandasizeestimatewasmadeforeachparrotfishusing
rangesof5cmtomaketheestimates(ex:510cm,1015cm,etc..).Oncethefishsurvey
wascompletedonepartnerbegantotakeacoralandalgaevideosurveyofthebenthos
whiletheotherpartnerlaidoutonequadrantat10mandanotherat20m.Oncethe
partnertakingthevideohadpassedoverthefirstquadrant,thesecondpartner
measuredthemacroalgaecanopyheightat5predeterminedlocationswithinthe
quadrant(onemeasurementateachcornerandoneinthecentre.)Thiswasthen
repeatedforthe20mquadrant.Afterthefishsurvey,thevideosurveyandthecanopy
heightmeasurementswerecompletedalloftheequipmentwascleanedupandthe
datawasbroughtbacktothelab.Onceinthelabthevideosurveywasanalyzedto
determinelivecoralcoverandthe%coverofmacroalgae.Oncewehadthe%coverof
macroalgaewecalculatedthemacroalgaeindexasperSIRHI,wealsousedthedata
collectedduringthefishsurveytocalculatethebiomassofparrotfishing/100m2.The
valueswecalculatedforcoralcoverage,macroalgaeindexandparrotfishbiomasswere

thenusedtoestimatereefhealthasperSIRHIguidelines,andeachindicatorwas
assignedavalueof5(verygood),4(good),3(fair),2(poor)and1(critical).

Results

Table1.0DataObtainedfromTuckersPointResortReef
Live Coral
Cover
Transect #7

Coral Recruits

Macroalgae Index

3% N/A

Parrotfish
Biomass
(g/60m2)

2.75

Parrotfish Biomass
(g/100m^2)
973.23

1,620.50

Table2.0SIRHIIndicatorsforCoralHealth
Macroalgae Index Health
Indicator

Parrotfish Index Health


Indicator

Table 2

Coral Condition

Transect #7

Critical

Good

Poor

Literature (Honduras)

Fair

Poor

Very Good

Table3.0ParrotfishBiomass
Calculating Parrotfish
Biomass
a

L (length)

Biomass

Spotlight Parrotfish
(female)

0.031

32.5

2.913

786.100231850928

Queen Parrotfish
(female)

0.031

17.5

2.913

129.518417570724

Redband Parrotfish
(female)

0.0206

7.5

8.690625

Redband Parrotfish
(female)

0.0206

7.5

8.690625

Redband Parrotfish
(female)

0.0206

12.5

40.234375

Total Parrotfish
Biomass (g/60m2

973.234274421652

Table4.0MacroalgaeCoverage
% Macroalgae
Calculating Macroalgae Index recorded

Average Canopy height (cm) Index

Quadrat 1

0.38

4.444

Quadrat 2

0.0625

20.7

0.22

12.572

Total

2.75

Discussion
WhenwecomparethereefwesurveyedinCastleHarbourtoareefinHonduras,itis
plaintoseethatthereefinHondurasisthehealthierreef.Whilethemacroalgaeindex
forthereefinCastleHarbourmaybebetter(GoodforCastleHarbour,Poorfor
Honduras),itismostlikelyduetotheamountofturfalgaepresentonthesubstrateand
theamountofsedimentationandturbidityinthebay(Pollocketal.,2014).Alarge
portionofthesubstratewasalsoentirelycomposedofsand,whichmayhavemadethe
macroalgaeindexforCastleHarbourappearmorefavourablethanitactuallyis.The
reefinHondurashasabetterscoreforCoralConditionthatthereefinCastleHarbour
(CriticalforCastleHarbour,FairforHonduras)(ReportfortheMesoamericanReef,
2012),anditalsobeatsCastleHarbourintermsofHerbivorousFishHealthIndicator
(PoorforCastleHarbour,VeryGoodforHonduras)(ReportfortheMesoamericanReef,
2012).ThefactthatweonlysurveyedParrotfishalongourtransectinCastleHarbour
mayhavehadanimpactonwhyourbiomasswassolow,thoughwhiledoingthe
surveywecameacrossveryfewotherherbivorousfishsoIdontbelieveitwouldhave
donemuchtohelpeventhescoresifwehadsurveyedallherbivorousfish.When
comparedtothetwoothersitessurveyedintheMesoAmericanregiontheCastle

Harbourreefstillscoreslowerthaneitherofthem,thoughitisonlyinslightlymore
unhealthythanthereefsurveyedBelize(ReportfortheMesoamericanReef,2012).
IfwehadmeasuredalloftheindicatorsusedforSIRHIIdobelievethatitwould
havebeensufficientenoughtorepresentthereefhealthatTuckersPointResort,
thoughaswedidnotmeasurecoralrecruitmentor%coraldiseasedIdonotbelieve
thatwehaveenoughdatatodeterminewhetherornotthereefishealthyornot.WhileI
dobelievethatthethreeindicatorswedidlookatareallveryimportant,coral
recruitmentand%coraldiseasedarebothveryimportantforpredictingthegrowthand
successofareef.Usingonlycoralcoverasanindicatorcanbemisleadingasacoral
thathasalotofrecruitmentsmaynothaveaveryhigher%coverbutitmaystillbea
healthyreefduetothenumberofrecruits.Ontheotherhandareefmayhaveavery
highamountofcoralcoverbutifalotofthatcoralisdiseasedorbleached(Green&
Bruckner,2000)thecoralcovermaybedecliningrapidly,thiswouldindicatean
unhealthyreefdespitethehighamountofcoralcover.

Idontthinkthattheindicatorswesurveyedwouldchangeimmediatelywiththe
additionofcoralgardens,thoughIdobelievethattheywillbegintoimproveasthecoral
gardenshaveachancetogrowandtheybegintosettlethemselves.InitiallyIalso
thoughtthatcoralgrowthratewouldbeagoodindicatortousetodeterminethehealth
ofthereefsandcoralgardensinCastleHarbour,thoughafterreadingsomeofthe
literaturethatisavailableoncoralhealthindicatorsitseemsthatgrowthratewouldnot
beagoodindicatortouse.InapaperpublishedbyEdingeretal.,theyfoundthatcoral

inanunhealthyreefmayhavethesameverticalgrowthrateascoralinahealthyreef,
buttheunhealthycoralwillbelessdensemakingitmoresusceptibletodamageand
corrosion(Edingeretal.,2000).

Conclusion
IfweweretotryandassessthehealthofthereefontheBermudaplatformwithin
a2yeartimeperiodtheindicatorsusedbySIRHIwouldcreateanaccurate
representationofcoralhealth,especiallywhenusedoversuchalargearea.Ifwewere
tosurveymultiplereefsofthesametypeallacrosstheplatformwewouldbeableto
createcomparisonstodeterminewhichreefsarethehealthiest,whichoneswouldbein
needofpreservationefforts(suchastheadditionofcoralgardens),andwewouldalso
beabletocreateanimageoftheoverallreefhealthintheregion.Aslongasallofthe
indicatorsaretakenintoaccountandnoneofthemarelookedatindependentlytheywill
beasufficientsystemtouse.Theseindicatorswouldalsobefairlyeasytoobtainfor
eachindividualreefwhichwouldmakeiteasiertosurveyasmanyreefsaspossible
overthetwoyeartimeperiod.

References
CastleHarbour,Bermuda.(n.d.).RetrievedJuly27,2016,from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Harbour,_Bermuda

Edinger,E.N.,Limmon,G.V.,Jompa,J.,Widjatmoko,W.,Heikoop,J.M.,&Risk,M.
J.(2000).NormalCoralGrowthRatesonDyingReefs:AreCoralGrowthRatesGood
IndicatorsofReefHealth?
MarinePollutionBulletin,

40
(5),404425.
doi:10.1016/s0025326x(99)002374

Green,E.P.,&Bruckner,A.W.(2000).Thesignificanceofcoraldiseaseepizootiology
forcoralreefconservation.
BiologicalConservation,

96
(3),347361.
doi:10.1016/s00063207(00)000732

Pollock,F.J.,Lamb,J.B.,Field,S.N.,Heron,S.F.,Schaffelke,B.,Shedrawi,G.,...
Willis,B.L.(2014).SedimentandTurbidityAssociatedwithOffshoreDredgingIncrease
CoralDiseasePrevalenceonNearbyReefs.
PLoSONE,

9
(7).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102498

ReportCardfortheMesoamericanReef.(2012).Retrievedfrom
http://www.healthyreefs.org/cms/wpcontent/uploads/2012/12/2012ReportCard.pdf

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