Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program: Final report of AIMS activities 2011 inshore coral reef monitoring

Abstract

The coral reef monitoring component of the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program (MMP) undertaken in 2011 was a continuation of activities under previous arrangements from 2005 to 2010. The coral monitoring program surveyed the cover of benthic organisms, the numbers of coral genera, the number of juvenile-sized coral colonies and sediment quality at inshore reef locations in four Natural Resource Management (NRM) regions: Wet Tropics; Burdekin; Mackay Whitsunday; and Fitzroy. Monitoring of coral recruitment also continued at three core reef sites in each of the four Regions. The completion of the eighth inshore coral reef survey under the MMP allows for updated assessments of the overall condition of inshore coral reef communities