More about Reef Check 97
gregorh at hk.super.net
gregorh at hk.super.net
Wed Oct 16 10:02:50 EDT 1996
The Reef Check 97 organizers would like to thank the 60 or so mainly
experienced coral reef scientists from around the world who have so far
offered to lead a group of divers to carry out Reef Check protocols. Based on
this response, my guess is that we will be able to survey up to 200 individual
sites around the world. I also thank those who have offered to Beta test the
core protocols.
Bill Alevizon is an experienced coral reef field man who has raised some
concerns about Reef Check. For those of you who were not party to some of the
IYOR planning sessions during the past years or in Panama, you may have
similar concerns.
The good news is that after we explained to Bill in more detail the history
and goals of Reef Check 97, he has thrown his considerable expertise in to
support us, and has offered to lead a Reef Check in the Bahamas next summer!
Thanks Bill.
For those of you who are still in the dark, a brief background and goals of
IYOR Reef Check 97 is given below.
GOALS OF IYOR and REEF CHECK
As Sue Wells has drummed into us, IYOR is an awareness building campaign, not
a scientific expedition. The idea behind Reef Check, is to promote public
awareness of coral reefs and potential threats by using a few very basic
parameters that we are comfortable that HS students could do. The results
should be scientifically sound, and should provide clear, although partial,
answers to the question of "What shape is the reef in?" Each Reef Check group
is required to have a designated scientific leader who is someone with field
experience and a member of the coral reef scientific community who can vouch
for the scientific quality of the work.
A number of us have quietly been doing testing for a Reef Check type operation
for many years now. Earthwatch projects are one successful example that this
process works, and there are many others around the world. There is no
question that the type of survey we have in mind can be done by amateurs given
appropriate guidance.
What kind of survey do we have in mind? The actual protocols that we are
working with as our "core" are very simple -- e.g. counting the number of
Diadema in a 20 sq meter patch, presence/absence of trash, fish nets or
dynamite blast craters. Any high school student could do these with after
training. To be doubly sure, we are Beta testing each protocol here in HK, in
the Solomons (Daphne Fautin) and other locations with amateur groups to ensure
that none of the 10 protocols are inappropriate, before we include them as a
"core" procedure. If we have problems with any of the protocols, we will
simply toss them.
As Bill correctly noted:
"The scientific community is still a long way from agreeing on the
most appropriate ecological indicators of the health or integrity of
reef systems in any part of the world."
This is an intractable problem, and if we wait for a consensus there wont be
many decent reefs left to argue about. The whole purpose of IYOR is an
"awareness campaign" -- it is not to decide what the best technique is for
determining reef health (although that would be nice). Based on the
overwhelming response we have gotten so far, dozens of extremely experienced
field-based coral reef scientists feel that Reef Check is not only feasible,
but is also an excellent method of promoting coral reefs and threats to them.
What will require some careful thought is how to rank the results with respect
to what we think we should expect to find at each site e.g. for edible
animals. How many Trochus "should" be found on "pristine" reef in Palau? In
some cases, the answers will be clear cut, and these are the ones that the
media will no doubt focus on -- eg. 45 sites that should have Tridacna have
almost none, or 180 out of 200 sites have ghost fish nets and evidence of
dynamite blasts. These results will be the most valuable for the PR angle. It
is the borderline cases that will be more difficult to interpret, and although
the data will be quantitative, we will need to rely on historical knowledge
ala Jeremy Jackson to report this from a qualitative perspective. In any case,
the data will be available for all to play with.
We have no doubt that we will not get Reef Check 100% right the first time
round. With everyone's help, we will generate significant new public and media
awareness that could translate into action to devote more resources in more
places to study and conserve coral reefs.
Phew!
Gregor Hodgson
Institute for Environmental Studies
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Fax: (852) 2358-1582
More information about the Coral-list-old
mailing list