Coral Bleaching

[Biological Consultants (Fiji)]

Hello Ponia,

It is worth having a close at the coral, presently, as the event wasn't
recognized in its early stages in Fiji. Then the coral was still alive often
exhibiting brighter coloration. Many who had been witnessing the early
stages, thought that the reef never looked better.  This was particularly
the case offshore.  Also the lagoon corals are often pre-adapted to the high
temperatures and many don't bleach, so you need to be looking on the reef
slope or in the passes. The abundance of Acropora here has made the event
more noticeable.

It is very understandable to me that visitors would think that what ever
they observed to be normal for the area. The Rarotonga observations are
important to the understanding of the event, from a remote sensing point of
view, as Rarotonga was within the hotspot area from early March according to
NOAA's hotspot website.  From that data, it was predicted accurately for
Fiji and, accordingly, should have occurred in your area.

Best regards, Ed Lovell
Edward R. Lovell