Tracing Coral Reefs: A Citizen Science Approach in Mapping Coral Reefs to Enhance Marine Park Management Strategies

Chai Ming Lau,Ven Thye Leong,Yaman Mohd Shahir,Yun Sing Leong,Ai Gaik Lim,Alvin Chelliah,Yang Amri Affendi,Julian Hyde,Noor Ikhwanie Zainal,Abdul Adzis Kee-Alfian,R Mohd Ramdhan,Putri Asma Megat Yusop,Yin Lee Low,A Mohd Halimi

doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00539

Abstract

Effective marine park management and protection of coral reefs can only happen if managers have adequate knowledge of reef health and area. However, obtaining such information is labour intensive and difficult with limited funding and time. Reef Check Malaysia was engaged by Department of Marine Parks Malaysia to map the coral reefs surrounding Tioman Island Marine Park and document health status and site specific threats. To achieve this, we utilized the Reef Check survey method, a simple, rapid and holistic standardized reef monitoring protocol based on scientific principles. This method is suitable where funds and time are limited. A total of 95 sites surrounding Tioman Island were surveyed with the assistance of certified Reef Check EcoDiver volunteers and representatives from local stakeholders. This citizen science approach proved successful and generated a baseline map revealing a difference in the health of coral reefs between the west and east sides of Tioman Island, where the West had 50% on the East. Combined with data on indicator fish and invertebrates, as well as human and natural impacts, the results suggest that Tioman Island should be separated into three distinctive conservation priority zones to enhance management strategies of this marine park. This is an example of an innovative way to engage and involve local stakeholders in planning conservation and management strategies.

Highlights

Coral reefs around the world are facing growing threats from changes to the environment through climate change (Praveena et al, 2012; Rinkevich, 2015)
live coral cover (LCC) provides a snap shot of coral reef health as it represents the coral dominant reef and has significant influence on fish species richness and composition where they constitute a positive correlation (Bell and Galzin, 1984)
LCC cover alone is inadequate as a metric for coral reef health because it does not indicate sufficient information on coral reef resilience (Hughes et al, 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Coral reefs around the world are facing growing threats from changes to the environment through climate change (Praveena et al, 2012; Rinkevich, 2015). Many researchers and scientists have engaged non-scientist volunteers who are able to assist in data collection and compilation for scientific projects (Bonney et al, 2014). Such citizen science programs are very much underutilized (Cigliano et al, 2015) information from such programs can be of great contribution to projects that have limited resources available. There are many monitoring and scientific survey exercises that use Reef Check data for management and better understanding the changes that are rapidly occurring in many reefs, especially in this region (Hodgson and Wilkinson, 2001; Hill and Wilkinson, 2004; Wilkinson, 2008; Wood and Dipper, 2008; Hughes et al, 2010; Wetzelhuetter et al, 2014). Surveys were conducted with the assistance of local community stakeholders and volunteers, who represent the “citizen science” part of the program

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion