Bahamas - AGRRA

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas has more than 700 islands and 2000 cays. The chain of islands extends from southeast of the Florida peninsula to just north of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. The land mass of the islands covers about 13,939 km² while the marine area encompasses almost 500,000 km². The Bahamas are well known for their crystal clear blue waters, luxuriant coral reefs, productive seagrass beds, and intricate mangrove forests.

Fringing and barrier coral reefs are found around most islands on the north and east windward coasts and around bank edges and are often adjacent to steep or vertical walls. Coral reefs cover 1,987 km² (2.2%) of the Great Bahama Bank and 324 km² of the Little Bahama Bank. The longest reef system is found along Andros Island and extends more than 200 km.

775 AGRRA reef surveys have been conducted between 1997-2019.

2020 Bahamas Coral Reef Report Card

In July 2020, the new Bahamas Coral Reef Report Card was released by the Perry Institute. The Report Card was based on AGRRA data from >250 surveys over the past 5 years (2015 to 2019) and provides an overview on key health indicators such as coral cover, macroalgal overgrowth, parrotfish and groupers. It also focuses on recent impacts such as Hurricane Dorian and Stony Coral tissue Loss Disease.

Overall coral reef health is reported as the Bahamian Reef Health Index (BRHI), which is a combined index of six key reef health indicators and scored on a scale from Poor to Good. The Report Card summarized the 2020 BRHI:

“The only areas where BRHI scores averaged more than 3.0 were Conception Island (3.19) and the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (3.14), the former being a remote area and receiving national park protection (although enforcement is limited), and the latter, a well-protected no-take national park with relatively low levels of development. The location with the lowest scores was Western Bahamas (2.19), where sand dredging has occurred for decades. Despite having some reefs with the highest live coral cover in The Bahamas, Abaco’s reefs suffered with the lowest coral recruitment index, low coral cover on average, and fewer large groupers than other sites. Reefs off New Providence and Grand Bahama were scored as IMPAIRED overall, primarily due to lower than average grouper and parrotfish index scores, as well as poor reef condition scores for New Providence/Rose Island, and poor recruitment scores for Grand Bahama.”

To see the 2020 Bahamas Coral Report Card, click here: https://www.agrra.org/resources/

Data graph examples from the Bahamas 2020 Coral Reef Report Card are shown below.

For more information, visit the Perry Institute: http://www.perryinstitute.org/coralreefreportcard2020/

Scroll Gallery for Data Graph examples from the Bahamas 2020 Coral Reef Report Card

2016 Bahamas Coral Reef Report Card

In 2016, The Bahamas Coral Reef Report Card was published based on 214 AGRRA surveys conducted between 2011 and 2013 including reef sites on Cay Sal Bank, Andros Island, the Southern Bahamas, New Providence and Rose Island, the Little Bahamas Bank and partial surveys in The Exuma Cays and Berry Islands. The health of these coral reefs was determined by examining the status of six key indicators on a scale from Poor to Good.

See the 2016 Report card here: https://www.agrra.org/resources/.

2016 Bahamian Reef Health Index

The Bahamian Reef Health Index (BRHI) provides a comprehensive summary of the health of each patch reef or fore reef by averaging the scores of the indicators. Reef health varied by zone and reef type. The overall BRHI score for most reefs was either Impaired (43%) or Fair (41%), with no reefs scoring in Good health overall. See Bahamas 2016 Coral Reef Report Card by Dahlgren et al. to learn more.

BAHAMAS ATLAS

The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) has launched a 2017 interactive version of the Bahamas Atlas. The Atlas is a digital flip book that contains detailed reports of the shallow water marine habitats of Cay Sal Bank, Great Inagua, Little Inagua, and Hogsty Reef along with direct links to fine-scale maps of seafloor habitats in these regions.

AGRRA BAHAMAS DATA

Between 1997-2019, there have been 775 AGRRA surveys conducted in the Bahamas by a variety of trained AGRRA partners. Data from these surveys are available to download as Excel spreadsheets containing summary products derived from these data. A metadata document is available to provide background information on the summary products.

As you use these data, please take careful note of all survey dates and version of the AGRRA protocols. Remember that the AGRRA data are only representative of the dates of their collection, and the condition of some of the surveyed reef areas may have changed. The AGRRA protocol has been updated over the years as more scientific information has become available. Data collected using Versions 1-4 are provided in one file and Version 5 data is available in a separate file.

Data for the summary products are also available as shapefiles at the site level to assist in quick integration of these products for Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analysis. GIS shapefiles allow the AGRRA databases to be accessed from within Geographical Information Systems such as the ArcGIS applications from Esri.

All excel and shape data files, the metadata document and the Terms of Use are available to download in a zip file. Click on the Bahamas Data link in the side bar.

Bahamas Data Available

51 Batches

775 Surveys

2944 Benthic Transects surveyed

3098 Coral Transects surveyed

5987 Fish Transects surveyed

65,621 Corals surveyed

233,928 Fish surveyed

HOW TO CITE THE AGRRA DATA SUMMARY PRODUCTS:

Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment Program. 2020. “AGRRA Summary Products, version (2020-12)” produced by Roth, L.M., J.R. Roth, J.C. Lang, P.R. Kramer, K.W. Marks, and P.A. Kramer. Available online at <http:www.agrra.org/data-explorer/explore-summary-products/ >

TERMS OF USE

All users – Please refer to the Terms of Use.

TO ACCESS BAHAMAS DATA – CLICK HERE

Note: User Agreement applies.

Previous AGRRA Surveys

Benthos and Fish surveys were conducted in Abaco Islands, Andros Island and San Salvador Island using AGRRA protocol 2.2 and are included in the Atoll Research Bulletin, No. 496, Status of Coral Reefs in the Western Atlantic, published 2003.

A RAPID ASSESSMENT OF CORAL REEFS NEAR HOPETOWN, ABACO ISLANDS

Benthos

ASSESSMENT OF THE ANDROS ISLAND REEF SYSTEM

ASSESSMENT OF CORAL REEFS OFF SAN SALVADOR ISLAND

Benthos and Fishes

Bahamas Andros patch reef. Copyright Ken Marks
Bahamas Andros Queen trigger. Copyright Ken Marks.
Bahamas Andros Butterfly fish. Copyright Ken Marks.
Bahamas A prolifera. Copyright Ken Marks.
Bahamas SE Rose coral. Copyright Sandy Voegeli.
Bahamas SE Diadema. Copyright Sandy Voegeli.
Bahamas SE Crinoid. Copyright Sandy Voegeli
Bahamas SE Black Durgon. Copyright Lindy Knowles.