Pre-bleaching event data is available

[Simon]

Hello,

Regarding the status of pre-bleached Seychelles marine communities.  In
1995 and 1996 I took part in an expedition to the Seychelles to undertake
Reefwatch style surveys directed by the University of York and have made my
draft reports available on a dedicated website.

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/aba60

The study area included 20,000 m2 (4 sites) in Baie Ternay and 15,000 m2
along the fringing reef slope at Baie Baeu Vallon including Auberge Reef,
Corsair Reef and Fishermans Cove.  In addition some observations were made
at Brissare Rocks.
Non-scleractinian invertebrates were counted as number of individuals and
as areal coverage in m2 for colonial or aggregating animals along 250m x 2m
transects.  For fish, visual census used 250 x 20m transects and included
10 fish families and length estimates for target species of the artisanal
fishery.

Although GPS coordinates are not available I think the relevant Govmnt
Department in Mahe has a complete report which should include a map as well
as more info on water quality, hard coral cover and reefwatch site
inspection data.  The survey technique is simple and therefore easily
repeatable given the time and effort.  It may provide an ideal opportunity
for an assessment of change as a result of the bleaching event and
trajectory of the recovery.

One outcome of the expedition was to have started a monitoring program so
perhaps the Govnmt has a time series of data for these areas ?!!

The full reports may also be available from Dr Rupert Ormond.  I had hoped
to have published some form of this information by now but ......

Regards
Simon

Simon James Pittman
Landscape Ecology Group
Department of Geographical Sciences
University of Queensland
QLD 4072, Australia