The 1998 AGRRA Workshop was held at the University of Miami June 2-6, 1998. Its major purpose was to review the Protocol for Rapid Assessment of the condition of coral reefs and to lay plans for beginning the evaluation of representative examples of Reefs of the Americas (Western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico). The names of the Workshop Participants from 21 countries are given below as well as the abbreviated Abstracts of their presentations.
The Workshop had three parts:
Presentations:
Most of the presentations were informal posters that were summarized by their
authors in a ten-minute advertisement. Several participants displayed maps of
reef distribution and there were three presentation on the distribution of
reefs. - Brazil, Central America, Caribbean Atolls. Abstracts of all
presentations are included below.
Field Trial of RAP:
Workshop attendees participated in field trials of the protocols either of
benthos (corals and algae) or fish. For the benthos, marked locations on
shallow patch reefs were examined by snorkeling to make visual estimates of
partial mortality of coral colonies and relative proportions of fleshy, turf
and crustose algae. A second group focused on reef fish and compared techniques
of assessment.
Discussions:
Using the presentations and field trial as background, the discussions led to
numerous additions and revisions of the protocol for benthos. The group
concerned with fish prepared a new and more practicable protocol for
assessment.
Results of the Workshop:
The major product of the Workshop is a Revised
Protocol for assessing reef condition. To verify its applicability to a
variety of different coral reefs, twenty groups from the Workshop will test it
in the field during the next two months. The results will be used to make any
necessary adjustments to produce a final version by October 1998.
To aid in the uniform application of the RAP, plans are being developed for at least two training Workshops, one for the southernmost part of the region to be held in Bonaire and the second for the Central Caribbean to be held in Belize.
Assessing the Condition of Reefs of the Americas - Next Steps:
Once the final RAP is in place, the first phase of its application can begin.
The Organizing Committee will solicit nominations of a limited number of
specific areas to be assessed and seek funding to support the minimal costs.
The results of these assessments together with those already completed or in
progress will be assembled and reviewed for a special publication, to appear in
1999 either as an issue of the Atoll Research Bulletin or the first of an AGRRA
Series. Beginning in the summer of 1999, assessments will be expanded to larger
areas of the region. The target date for completion of the assessment of reefs
throughout the Western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico is the end of the year 2000.
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