Monitoring Objectives
The fundamental goal of DAR's coral reef monitoring program is to provide information sufficient for the agency to be able to fulfill its mission to "manage, conserve and restore the state's unique aquatic resources and ecosystems for present and future generations". Two main objectives were identified:
- To provide data on the status and trends of `key' coral reef resources and key components of the ecosystems they are part of. `Key' resources are essentially fishes of commercial or social importance and hard corals. Interpretation of spatial or temporal patterns in those groups necessitates a reasonable understanding of the status of other components of the ecosystems they are part of. Other monitoring foci therefore include grazing and corallivorous invertebrates (sea-urchins and crown of thorns starfish); algae; water quality, and reef structure (e.g. rugocity).
- To provide data sufficient for DAR to be able to assess the effectiveness or otherwise of marine managed areas (MMAs). As a minimum, all MLCDs, the Waikiki Diamond Head FMA, and protected sites within the West Hawaii Regional FMA should be routinely monitored together with a sufficient number of `control' sites (i.e. otherwise comparable unmanaged or alternatively managed areas) for meaningful assessment of management effectiveness.
Monitoring Framework
Common Methods, Different Goals
The Main Hawaiian Islands are extremely diverse in terms of reef habitats, local status of and threats to coral reefs, and management regime. Consequently, management foci in terms of both habitats and resources vary widely among locations. Therefore, our aim is to apply a common toolkit of methods among all DAR monitoring locations, while allowing local flexibility in the importance given to particular ecosystem components: the balance of effort devoted to different methods will vary among locations, and not all methods are applied at all locations. Additionally, target habitats vary among locations (e.g. mid-depth reefs in West Hawaii, being the key-habitat for the aquarium-trade fishery; shallow reefs in Maui, where shore-based fishing is the main management concern).
Table 1. Methods toolkit including relevant scale and target organisms.
Method |
Target Group/Issue |
|
|
||
| Small-Scale - 25m Fixed Transects> | ||
(1) Belt transects - Fish and Inverts
(2) Digital Still Transects |
Small and site-attached fishes, e.g. Small to moderate change % benthic cover |
|
| Additional Small-Scale at Fully-Integrated Sites | ||
(3) Coral Disease Surveys (4) Water Quality
|
Coral Disease (!)
Temperature |
|
| Medium spatial scale ~ 250m by 30m | ||
(4) 5-minute timed swims
(5) `Benthic Characterization'* |
Large, mobile and skittish fishes which are primary food- and recreational-target groups Benthic `character' including rugosity & ability to detect gross change at medium spatial scale |
|
DAR Monitoring Station Types
DAR coral-reef monitoring stations will be of 4 types: (1) benthos-only; (2) small-scale; (3) `resource-fish' only; and (4) fully integrated (Table 2).
|
Small-Scale |
Med-Scale |
||||||
Station Type |
Sm-Scale |
Sm-Scale |
Urchins |
Water |
Disease |
COTS |
Res |
|
Benthos-only1 |
|
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Small-scale only2 |
X |
X |
X |
|
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Resource-fish3 |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
X |
|
Fully-integrated station4 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
Monitoring Frequency
Monitoring will be conducted for fish species, mobile invertebrates, benthic cover, and coral disease and bleaching. Monitoring activities will be 3-4 times a year for fish surveys, and once every 3 years for benthos and coral disease. These are target minimum levels - additional monitoring will be conducted as resources allow, for example, Maui DAR aim to continue to photo-survey Maui CRAMP on an annual basis.
For further details on the monitoring scheme and methods see the MHI monitoring scheme document. (attached pdf.)