The indicators of the AGRRA Protocol are:

1.    Partial or total mortality of major reef-building corals by species and size;

2.     Relative abundance of principal algal types; and

3.      The abundance and sizes of key fish species.

AGRRA sites are surveyed in a probabilistic fashion to yield information representative of large areas, such as shelves, islands, countries or ecoregions, i.e., at the scales over which many reef structuring processes and impacts occur. Although the approach does not attempt to distinguish between cause and effect of reef condition, the data gathered can be used to develop hypotheses on trends of reef decline, particularly across large spatial scales.  

Introduction to Version 5.4

Assessing important structural and functional attributes of tropical Western Atlantic coral reefs, and fisheries-independent estimates of fishing intensity, remain core goals of the AGRRA Program. However, to enhance comparability with subregional survey programs in the wider Caribbean (and with some regional Indo-Pacific efforts), a number of changes are introduced in Version 5 of the AGRRA protocols. The original benthos protocol has been partitioned into two components to simplify the tasks required of surveyors. Because small corals were underrepresented in earlier surveys, their minimum size is reduced to 4 cm and one-meter wide belt transects replace line transects. Additions to the visual fish census include lionfishes, morays, as well as potentially significant predators of Diadema and corallivores (animals that prey on corals).  

Groups are now encouraged to set their own level of effort, between basic (for novices and some management needs) and detailed (some research needs), for each of the new survey methods.  

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