Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program - Condition of inshore coral reefs on the Great Barrier Reef

Regular monitoring of the condition of reefs in the inshore GBR lagoon has commenced in 2005 as part of the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program(MMP), which is supported by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, through funding from the Australian Government's Caring for our Country and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

The condition of inshore coral reefs is monitored at 32 inshore coral reefs in the same four NRM regions. Of these reefs, 15 are surveyed annually (and 14 of these have regular water quality monitoring, see above), while 17 additional reefs are surveyed every other year. Monitored reefs are located along gradients away from the mouths of regionally important rivers (generally ion a northward direction). Reefs are assessed for their cover of hard coral, soft coral and macroalgae, as well as taxonomic diversity, coral demographics (monitoring of juvenile coral colonies, their sizes and their diversity) and coral larval settlement rates. The composition of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, as a bioindicator for water quality, is also assessed at the 14 core coral reef and water quality monitoring sites, including calculation of the FORAM index.

A summary of this dataset is available to view in Google earth in this KML.