Environmental News Network - Small Start to Coral Recovery in the Great Barrier Reef but Large Increase in Coral Trout

Details: By Australian Institute of Marine Science; 26.Aug

The effect of last Summer’s marine heatwave and coral bleaching will not be known until further surveys are completed this year

Michael Hammer

Marine scientists recorded small increases in coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef according to underwater survey results released today (21 August 2020).

The Australian Institute of Marine Science’s (AIMS) Annual Summary Report on coral reef condition for 2019/20 is drawn from surveys undertaken between September 2019 and June 2020, with most of the reefs surveyed before last Summer’s mass coral bleaching event.

The full effects of this event on coral cover will not be known for some months and may set back the Reef’s recovery.

Coral cover is a widely used measure to describe the proportion of the reef surface covered in live hard coral.

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Small Start to Coral Recovery in the Great Barrier Reef but Large Increase in Coral Trout