Report on surveys of the Townsville sector of the Great Barrier Reef

Summary

• Overall moderate levels of coral bleaching (10-30% of total hard coral cover).
• Impact of the summer 2016/17 bleaching event varied, some reefs had low levels of bleaching while a high proportion of corals were bleached at other reefs.
• Median reef-wide live coral cover had increased on four of seven reefs since they were last surveyed.
• Coral cover had declined on two reefs, John Brewer and Rib Reefs. The decline on Rib Reef was due to a crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreak.
• Coral disease outbreaks were recorded at Davies and John Brewer Reefs.

Figure 1: Map showing location of reefs in the Townsville sector. Click on figure to go to AIMS Spatial Maps and then click on symbols for information on individual reefs.

Table 1: Overview of results obtained from manta tow surveys of reefs in the Townsville sector.

As part of the Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP), seven reefs in the Townsville sector of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) were surveyed for coral cover and abundance of the coral feeding COTS, Acanthaster planci, using the manta tow technique. Median reef-wide live coral cover (coral cover) increased in the sector (Table 1) as reefs continue to recover from Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi in February 2011. Results for individual reefs are given in Table 2.

A large COTS outbreak was observed at Rib Reef. COTS were also observed on John Brewer Reef and during scuba search surveys of Chicken Reef, indicating increasing COTS activity on reefs in this sector.

Qualitative assessments of bleaching from manta tow surveys revealed that bleaching was widespread, affecting all reefs in the sector, generally at a moderate level (10 to 30% of total hard coral cover). The highest incidence of bleaching was recorded at Havannah Island Reef where it affected 50-75% of total hard coral cover. Moderate (10 to 30%) to high levels (30-50%) of bleaching were also recorded on parts of Dip, Myrmidon and Rib Reefs. Bleaching was generally widespread on the reef slopes of reefs throughout the sector, from the reef flats, reef crest and slope down to below 10m. White syndrome disease outbreaks (incidence of disease at a higher rate than normally recorded during manta tow surveys) were observed on the first flank of Davies Reef and the front and second flank of John Brewer Reef. An outbreak of black-band disease was also recorded on the second flank of John Brewer Reef.

Table 2: Summary of manta tow surveys for reefs in the Townsville sector. Arrows indicate the trend in live coral cover and A. planci since last survey; ▲ = increase, ▼ = decrease, “ ” = no change. Reef status refers to COTS impact where NO = No Outbreak, and RE = Recovering from a previous outbreak.