Coral reef monitoring for management

Abstract

Reef survey systems such as ReefCheck by Hodgson (1999), methods adapted for Earthwatch volunteers and conservation projects by White etal. (2000), and ReefBase's Aquanaut system by McManus etal. (1997) are available for SCUBA divers who wish to do coral reef monitoring with the benefit of some initial training. There are also other methods such as the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network system described by English etal. (1997) for reef scientists who wish to achieve more detailed monitoring. But because there are not enough volunteer SCUBA divers and reef scientists to monitor all the world's coral reefs or even Philippine reefs, simpler methods for non-SCUBA divers were developed from the existing methods. This is a guide for communities and field level staff who are involved in project implementation in how to do low-cost, less technical surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of their coastal management efforts.