[Coral-List] new AGRRA protocols available online

[Judith Lang]

New Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) Protocols, UW  
datacards and data entry sheets are available for downloading at the  
AGRRA website (www.agrra.org).

RATIONALE
Assessing important structural and functional attributes of tropical  
Western Atlantic coral reefs, and fisheries-independent estimates of  
fishing intensity, remain core goals of the Program. AGRRA sites are  
surveyed in a probabilistic fashion to yield information  
representative of large areas, such as shelves, islands, countries or  
ecoregions, i.e., at the scales over which many reef structuring  
processes and impacts occur.

To enhance comparability with subregional survey programs in the wider  
Caribbean (and with some regional Indo-Pacific efforts), a number of  
changes are introduced in Version 5 of the AGRRA protocols. The  
original benthos protocol has been partitioned into two components to  
simplify the tasks required of surveyors. Because small corals were  
underrepresented in earlier surveys, their minimum size is reduced to  
4 cm and one-meter wide belt transects replace line transects.  
Additions to the visual fish census include lionfishes, morays, as  
well as potentially significant predators of Diadema and corallivores  
(animals that prey on corals).

Groups are encouraged to set their own level of effort, between basic  
(for novices and some management needs) and detailed (some research  
needs), for each of the new survey methods.

Questions?
Email Judy Lang at: jlang at riposi.net