Coral Bleaching in The Seychelles Impacts and Recommendations

Abstract

Coral bleaching was assessed by underwater digital video in reefs at 14 locations around the Seychelles in late May 1998 as part of a continuing assessment of reef health with the Seychelles Marine Park Authority. Preliminary estimates are that around three quarters of all corals were recently dead, ranging from around 50% to over 90% at different sites. More precise measurements of mortality will be available later from detailed quantitative analysis of video records, but these will be underestimates of final mortality because many corals that were still partially alive at the time were still dying. The catastrophic mortality was due to excessively high sea surface temperatures, whose effect exceeds all previous threats to reefs to date. Strong international action to halt global warming is essential to prevent further recurrences of high temperature mortality in the future. Reef restoration efforts using mineral accretion technology to grow breakwaters and speed up the growth of corals will be essential to accelerate the recovery of lost environmental services such as reef fisheries, sand generation, tourism, and shore protection.