Coral Sea Marine Park Coral Reef Health Survey 2023 and 2024

Summary

James Cook University was commissioned by Parks Australia to assess:

• the latest condition of benthic, fish and invertebrate communities within the Coral Sea Marine Park

• any ongoing impacts of the back-to-back (2020 and 2021) bleaching events on benthic, fish and invertebrate communities, and

• gain some understanding of the resilience and biodiversity of the Coral Sea Marine Park ‘bright spot’ reefs.

The project undertook detailed surveys of coral, fish and macro-invertebrate communities and associated reef health of:

• 11 Coral Sea Marine Park reefs over a 31-day voyage in February-March 2023, and

• 7 CSMP reefs during a 19-day voyage in February-March 2024.