[Coral-List] Coral bleaching in Cambodia

Jan-Willem van Bochove jvb at coralcay.org
Thu Jun 3 06:39:27 EDT 2010


   Dear all,
   Like  many  others diving in the Gulf of Thailand, we have been seeing
   significant coral bleaching around the Cambodian islands of Koh Rong and Koh
   Rong Samloem. The extent of this bleaching has been severe with many reef
   sites showing bleaching levels of 90 to 100% across all coral species. These
   sites were all shallow-water reefs no deeper than 12 meters.

   The bleaching began in mid-April and reached its peak about 3-4 weeks ago
   when the water temperatures increased by at least 2°C, bringing surface
   water temperatures up to 34°C and over.

   The  start  of  the  rainy  season  last week has brought cooler water
   temperatures but has also resulted in heavy sedimentation levels, smothering
   and  killing  off  many of the bleached colonies. Acropora spp. and D.
   Heliopora colonies have been hit particularly hard but there are some large
   Porites colonies which seem to be coping with the unusual conditions.

   With water temperatures dropping back to 31°C, we are hoping to see some
   colour returning to Cambodia’s reefs!

   If you would like further information and images of the bleaching event,
   feel  free to get in touch with me directly or contact Vicki Bush, the
   Project Scientist in Cambodia at [1]cambodia at coralcay.org.
   We will also be presenting our monitoring results at the 2^nd Asia-Pacific
   Coral Reef Symposium in Phuket later this month.

   Regards,
   Jan-Willem

   --

   Jan-Willem van Bochove MSc

   Head of Marine Science

   Coral Cay Conservation

   Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NQ, United Kingdom

   Tel: +44 (0)20 7620 1411

   Fax: +44 (0)20 7921 0469

   Skype: jhvanbochove

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References

   1. mailto:cambodia at coralcay.org
   2. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coral-Cay-Conservation-The-Official-Site/274436156676?ref=ts



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