This project addresses the importance of exploring and monitoring the Cayman Crown reef, to generate a solid scientific knowledge baseline to further advance our current understanding on its biodiversity, ecosystem composition and services, ecologic connectivity and analyze the changes in water temperature on the reef. Specific benthic community structure data and major fish populations structure was gathered using the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol where coral reef and macroalgal cover, and fish biomass was measured and served to evaluate the health of the reef.
HRI has worked to further investigate and monitor the Cayman Crown reef to better understand its health and ecological composition. The ongoing study focused on studying the two designated permanent study sites in Belize within the reef system. A field expedition conducted from August 28th to September 1st, 2023, involved complete AGRRA monitoring, concurrent tracking of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) and bleaching across the sites. We not only gathered crucial data regarding reef health but also retrieved the data from the installed temperature sensor and hydrophone.
The main results show that the two sites surveyed in 2023, have a poor and critical condition. The results suggest that this is mainly due to the critical condition of herbivorous and commercial fish biomass on both sites and the increase in macroalgae cover (critical condition). The live coral cover for both sites is in good and very good condition. There was no SCTLD found on the study sites.
Ecosystem characterization included AGRRA coral reef monitoring, bleaching and temperature monitoring. With this monitoring we will be able to track reef health, mortality and other changing patterns over time, also providing a permanent visual record of the reef condition.