Reef Check Training Course

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Reef Check Training Course Introduction to Coral
Reefs Introduction to Reef Check Data
Quality Team Tasks The Methods The Planning
Stage The Methods The Survey
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Introduction to coral reefs
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What is a coral reef?

• Made up of large hard corals that build the reef
  structure and support a myriad of life
• They are tropical ecosystems that rival only
  rainforests in species diversity. This is
  BIODIVERSITY.

Photo by Jos Hill, 2002
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Why care about coral reefs?

• Rainforests of the sea. E.g.. Nursery ground for
  25 of marine species and home to 33 of all
  known fish species

• Important food source for millions of people

• Source of medicines

• Coastal protection from wave erosion to 1/6 of
  worlds coastline

• Source of islands white sand beaches for
  tourist resorts

• 20 million scuba divers

• Great beauty and spiritual value.

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What conditions do coral reefs require?

• Light

• Low nutrient, clear water

• Salinity around 32-42/ppm

• Temperature between 18-29ºC

• Waves and good water circulation

• More effective management than is currently in
  place.

For more information see http//www.coris.noaa.go
v/about/what_are/what_are.htmlAnchor-Where-16068
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Zonation

• Zones are habitats within a reef
• Areas defined by complex associations between
  creatures and the environment
• Zones help better understand ecosystem dynamics
  and changes over time.

Taken from the A.W.A.R.E Coral Reef Conservation
Course
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Natural disturbance dynamic balance of coral
reef ecosystems
Healthy coral dominated reef
Damaged reef
10-20 year recovery period
Acute natural impact here
Natural impacts include physical disturbances,
such as cyclones. These impacts tend to be ACUTE
and coral reefs have adapted to recover from
acute events.
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Natural disturbance dynamic balance of coral
reef ecosystems

• We can measure the health of a coral reef in
  terms of its resilience to impacts, such as, its
  ability to recover from disturbance.

• We can measure this health by monitoring how
  they change over time.

It is important to understand how reefs change
with time naturally in order that we can
determine how human impacts affect them
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A basic ecology lesson
An ecosystem is like a jenga game. Each block
has a function to hold the system together.
Pull out too many blocks and the system will
collapse
Each organism in an ecosystem has a function
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Threats to coral reefs

1. Overfishing

1. Destructive fishing

1. Sedimentation

1. Pollution

1. Global climate change.

Human impacts tend to be CHRONIC and leave no
recovery period.
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Solutions to these problems
In order to effectively manage a coral reef we
must
1. Determine what the problems are and where
they are
2. Put in place a management solution
3. Monitor the effectiveness of the management.
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Introduction to Reef Check
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History

• In 1993 at a Symposium in Miami a question was
  asked

What is the health of the worlds coral reefs?

• Science as usual failed to give answers
  because

• There are too few scientists who spend too
  little time on reefs

• Too few study sites

• Few long-term studies

• Emphasis on basic research

• Different questions and methods used in
  different areas meaning that we cannot compare
  data.

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1997 Reef Check begins

• Reef Check designed a global survey method for
  the International Year of the Reef. This
  protocol was
• Simple, Rapid, All volunteer

• Combined manpower of local communities with
  scientific experts

• Eco-holistic -- not just fish or coral

• Provides basic data on coral reef health

• Applicable anywhere in the world.

This 1997 survey effort revealed that coral reefs
around the world were in very poor health!
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What is Reef Check?

• Educate the public about the coral reef crisis

• Create a global network of volunteer teams,
  which regularly monitor and report on reef health

• Scientifically investigate coral reef processes

Facilitate collaboration among academia, NGOs,
governments and the private sector

• Stimulate local community action to protect
  remaining pristine reefs and rehabilitate damaged
  reefs worldwide using ecologically sound and
  economically sustainable solutions.

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Who are the stakeholders involved?

• Villagers/fisherfolk
• Tourist divers
• Local dive clubs
• Government agencies
• Local/regional NGOs, conservation groups
• Other stakeholders.

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Reef Check Strategy
Reef Check
Monitoring
Management
Education
Coral Reef Conservation
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Reef Check Global Network 1997-pre sent
1400 Reefs, 62 Countries and Territories
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What type of data do we collect?
1) A description of each reef site based on over
30 measures of environmental conditions and
expert rating of human impacts
2) Shellfish counts along an 800 m 2 section of
shallow reef
3) Fish counts along an 4000 m 3 section of
shallow reef
4) A measure of the percentage of the seabed
covered by different substrate types including
live and dead coral
5) A video transect of the seabed.
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Some Global Results 1997 - 2001

• Percent hard coral cover was significantly
  higher on reefs having no human impacts than on
  those with high impacts

• Algal cover was higher on reefs rated as having
  high sewage inputs

• Zero grouper larger than 30 cm recorded at 48
  of reefs surveyed indicating overfishing

• Many marine protected areas are not working very
  well

• The 1997 1998 bleaching event reduced live
  coral cover by 10 globally, indicating that
  coral reefs are a sensitive indicator of global
  warming.

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Management Successes

• Soufriere, St Lucia -- Marine Management
  Authority uses RC to demonstrate the value of the
  marine protected area (MPA) for fish

• Gilutongan Island, Cebu, Philippines local
  barrio decided to set up MPA after RC
  participation. Today most successful urban,
  no-take MPA in Philippines (Ross et al, 2000).

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Education Successes

• Recife, Brazil local government decides to set
  up childrens reef education center after RC
  shows reef damage

• In collaboration with Friends of the Reef, RC
  Indo conducts art contest to educate school
  teachers and students in Bali.

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Data Quality
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Data quality

• Unfortunately we have to account for different
  types of error when we compare results of surveys
  over time.

• Minimizing error is important because the more
  error we have, the lower the resolution by which
  environmental change can be detected.

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Data quality Sources of error

• Technical errors from transect placement
• Perceptual errors
• Identification errors.

Technical and perceptual errors can be minimized
by standardising the methods. Identification
errors must be minimized by standardising
training and testing!
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Learning from the Past and Site Descriptions
Coral cover on Balicasag Island reef from 1984 to
1999 (Christie et al. 2002)
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How do we ensure the data is of sufficient high
quality to integrate it with official data sets?

• standardise the identification training
  throughout Queensland

Rock and Recently Killed Coral are frequently
confused by volunteers

• test participants.

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What happens to our data?

• Sent to Reef Check Headquarters where it is
  integrated with the global database

• Sent to The World Fish Centres ReefBase

• Used for global, regional and national annual
  reports and publications

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What are the objectives of participants?

• To be able to identify all of the target
  organisms to 80-95 precision whilst following
  exactly AND SAFELY the Reef Check methods using
  SCUBA

• To understand the importance of precise data
  collection and how this data can be used by
  scientists and managers for coral reef
  conservation

• To understand the use and limitations to the
  data that is collected using Reef Check

• Gain an understanding of the threats facing
  coral reefs and solutions to these problems

• To have fun!!

the level required for a particular Reef Check
training event will depend upon the Reef Check
organisers snorkel teams may also be
accommodated for shallow reef areas.
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Team Tasks
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Who must every Reef Check team include?

• Team Scientist
• Team Leader
• Equipment Cop.

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What is the role of the Team Scientist?

• Site selection

• Delegation of survey tasks

• Survey briefing prior to dive
• Ensure proper identifications and data recording
  are made underwater

• Data sheet collection and filing

• Organisation of data entry, filing and
  notification of data entered to coordinator

• Organise data analysis and summary.

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What is the role of the Team Leader?

• Confirm dive trip dates and arrangements

• Confirm team availability

• Field day organisation

• Complete field log

• Organisation of media releases

• Dive safety

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What is the role of the Equipment Cop?

• Pre and post-survey equipment check

• Bring the equipment to the survey.

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The Methods The Planning Stage
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The Survey Equipment

• 100 m transect line

• Underwater slate for each team member

• Pencil

• Spare pencil!!

• Underwater ID guides

• GPS or detailed chart (or access to one)

• Plumb line

• Marker and safety buoys / surface tenders

• Underwater cameras (if available).

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The Transect
The basic idea of the Reef Check protocol is to
swim along a 100m line and count!
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Planning the survey
It is important that team members know EXACTLY
what they are to do. Trying to communicate
underwater can sometimes be difficult and we are
working under the clock!
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Site selection

• Critical for the success of Reef Check!

• Must be selected by an experience Reef Check
  Scientist

• Re-surveys must be implemented at the same site
  in the same habitat!

• New sites would ideally be on a moderately to
  fully exposed reef with a reef crest and outer
  slope being ideal.
• Select the best reef areas for surveys

Steep reef walls or drop-offs, reefs
predominantly located in caves or underhangs
should be avoided.
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The Survey Methods
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Survey tasks

• Initial site orientation survey (all divers)
• Lay the transect line (1 - 2 divers)
• Substrate survey (1 - 2 divers)
• Invertebrate/impact survey (1 - 2 divers)
• Retrieve the transect line (1 2 divers)
• Optional safety buddy and surface tender

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Before you jump into the water

• Record the GPS location
• Record the name of the TS or TL on the data
  sheet
• Start to fill out the site description form.

Divers should go over the dive plan before anyone
enters the water in order to ensure that everyone
knows what they should be doing and when.
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Line deployment

• Reef Check typically surveys 2 depths
• Between 2-6m
• Between 8-12m

• A snorkel survey over the site can help
  determine its eligibility for a Reef Check
  survey
• The TS or experienced Reef Checkers will
  typically lay the transect line because care must
  be taken not to damage the reef.

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The substrate survey

• The aim is to collect cover estimates of
  various substrates and benthic organisms

• A point sampling method is used every 50cm

• Plumb line must be used to remove bias

• This survey typically takes 30 mins to 1 hour to
  complete.

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Invert and impact survey

• This is a 5m wide belt transect. We use the
  same 4 x 20m long transects, but survey 2.5m
  either side of the tape

• The goal of this survey is to count the target
  mobile invertebrates and note any coral damage,
  such as, bleaching, Crown of Thorns Starfish,
  anchor damage or trash

• The upside down pose is the easiest position to
  search and write

• A regular U-shaped search pattern ensures a
  comprehensive coverage of the belt transect

• This survey takes between 30 mins and 1 hour to
  complete.

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Fish survey

• Same 5m wide belt transect but it is also 5m
  HIGH

• The fish survey is the first survey to be done

• The ideal survey time is between 09.00 and 10.00

• Completion time is approximately 1 hour

• The team must wait 15mins after the line is
  deployed before entering the water

• Divers must make slow and careful movements

• Concentrate on buoyancy

• Coordinate counts with your buddy to avoid
  double counting

• Only count fish in the tunnel except for the
  Humphead wrasse and Bumphead parrotfish or mega
  fauna.

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Post-Dive Tasks

• Data entry
• Media release
• Thank-yous to supporters
• See TL, TS and EC roles..

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Daghang Salamat!!!

• Special thanks to Jos Hill PhD of Reef Check
  Australia for providing key parts of this
  presentation.