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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.