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The Kosrae Coral Reef Monitoring Project -- Summary of Project Objectives
Background
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Team Briefings Take Place Before Each Dive
Objectives
The primary objectives of the Kosrae Mooring Buoy and Reef
Protection Project are:
1) placement and maintenance
of approximately 65 mooring buoy sites for use by local boats, including both fisherman and
recreational dive operators, (completed),
2) documentation of the selected sites and collection of baseline
data for buoy locations having a high potential
to suffer impacts due to recreational diving and other activities,(completed),
3) development of a general program to provide on-going
monitoring and data collection activities, (completed),
4) on-going collection of environmental and reef status data (in progress),
5) provision of educational materials
to the Kosrean populace and visiting recreational divers.
Ongoing support of this program will be provided by a combination
of local dive operators, representatives of the Kosrae State Dept. of
Marine Resources, Kosrae NGOs, and international volunteers.
Project Status
The project has now entered the phase during which monitoring
protocols are being applied and data collection is continuing.
Future monitoring teams will continue to develop video and photographic
records, transect surveys, visibility data, water quality
and other observational data consistent with protocols developed
by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Reefcheck and others.
Teams will integrate protocols designed to collect robust statistical data,
as modified to address specific issues identified by the Kosrae
State Dept. of Marine Resources. Collected data will
be collated, entered into an archival database, analyzed and provided to
the Dept. of Marine Resources and other researchers. Photo and video records will be
processed in a manner consistent with its future
use for comparative temporal studies.