Mixed Bag In Survey Of N. Australian Reefs; Some Recovering From Bleaching, Some Still Declining
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In the Cape Grenville sector, six reefs were surveyed where the agency had collected data in 2017, after the 2016 bleaching. Of these, hard coral cover had declined further at five reefs, while one was unchanged. Three other previously unsurveyed reefs had “low, moderate and high coral cover”, the report says.
Across the site scientists found widespread coral bleaching “but at low levels”, and there was also fresh damage to reefs attributed to destruction from tropical cyclone Penny this summer. In the Princess Charlotte sector, Aims returned to five reefs studied in 2017, of which two had deteriorated further and three were unchanged.
The scientists said in their preliminary report that coral bleaching was widespread at low levels across this section of reefs, but some areas showed “significant coral bleaching”. These reefs also appeared to have been damaged by tropical cyclone Penny.
Mike Emslie, a marine ecologist at Aims who was one of the scientists on the expedition, said “some reefs that were severely bleached in 2016 are still in bad shape”. “However, other reefs that escaped the worst of the bleaching still have reasonably healthy amounts of coral.” Emslie said the team’s preliminary results showed low to moderate numbers of young corals, which indicated that the effects of bleaching were still being felt.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/04/some-great-barrier-reef-coral-suffering-lasting-effects-from-mass-bleaching-events