2017 WIO Post-Bleaching Assessment Project 2nd November 2017 Mishal Gudka - mgudka@cordioea.net 10th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium

Content Objectives Background Plan Activities and outputs Data and analysis Next steps

Objectives Determine the extent of coral reef degradation in the Western Indian Ocean as a result of the 2016 coral bleaching event To consolidate post-bleaching assessment methods and guidance for the WIO regional reef network To capture and disseminate coral reef health data To facilitate a meeting of regional stakeholders to share and present findings

Background 2016 - 3rd global coral bleaching event affected the WIO IOC’s Biodiversity Project supported coral bleaching data collection for the 2017 GCRMN coral status report Part of an initiative to enhance global efforts to assess the impacts of the 2016 coral bleaching event https://goo.gl/Wt6fbK

Outputs and activities Webinar conducted in July Post-bleaching surveys September – October Meeting of regional stakeholders - November National assessment reports completed by December Final report with regional synthesis - February 2018

Project Plan 2015/2016 WIO coral dataset (GCRMN coral status report) Survey sites with pre-bleaching data Communication with partners Fieldwork funded in Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania Data from institutions and organisations that independently collected post-bleaching data Data summarised Data-sharing agreement Mention that one of the key targets was to ensure that long-term data was maintained – extra data point to time series for long term sites Summary data Updated WIO coral dataset with post-bleaching data

Data Coral reef data collected using standardized monitoring methods Benthic Quantitative 2016 bleaching Fish abundance Coral recruit Coral condition

Analysis plan National and regional scales: Trend (decline/increase) in levels over time Comparison of pre- and post-bleaching levels Live hard coral cover Recruit density etc. Percentage of coral that died Percentage of bleaching recorded (at peak)

Final steps Conduct data analysis – national and regional levels Write national assessment chapters Write regional synthesis Complete and publish final report Dissemination of key findings

End Photo credit: Julien Wickel