WIO post-bleaching assessment

The third global coral bleaching event started in the North Pacific in the summer of 2014, and continued for a record 3 years, only dissipating in 2017. It affected the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) between January and May 2016, and was the strongest bleaching event to occur in the region since 1998. The main objective of this report is to provide updated information on the status of coral reefs in the region after the 2016 mass coral bleaching event. Secondary objectives are to a) update the national and regional databases on coral reef health, and b) strengthen coral reef monitoring networks in the region. This assessment was based on the approach used for the 2017 GCRMN WIO coral reef status report. Post-bleaching data were collected at long-term monitoring sites in September and October 2017 in four countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar and Comoros. In addition, data were gathered from various organizations, researchers, institutions and programmes across the region that had conducted their own post-bleaching surveys. The analysis included 153 reef sites from 6 countries with both pre-bleaching (June 2016 and earlier) and post-bleaching (July 2016 and later) data.