Western Indian Ocean regional coral reef monititoning and related activities Overview and progress Provided by Said Ahamada, David Obura and Mishal Gudka ICRI 31st General Meeting, 2-4 November 2016, Paris, France
1- Overview The Western Indian Ocean Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania Creation in Nosy Be Madagascar, 1997/1998 as SWIOIS GCRMN Node: IOC members States. The objective is to contribute to the ICZM through coral reef health status monitoring Funding: PRECOI-UE; GEF, WWF/FGEF; ReCoMaP- COI/UE; CORDIO, National fundings Piloted by Focal points and line Ministries of IOC members countries 2001 set up of NC CRTF including islands states +Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa Producing regularly regional chapters to the 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008 global coral reef status reports Discussions of the idea of producing the 2016 WIO GCRMN Report at the 29 th ICRI GM in Okinawa
2- Drafting the Roadmap Location: Albion, Mauritius Date: 24-26 February 2015 44 Participants Main components: 1. Network gouvernance strengthening 2. Capacity building 3. Information system 4. Reporting
3- IMPLEMENTING THE ROAD MAP
3.1. The capacities building - Training in GCRM methods in Sainte Marie Islands and Nosy Be Madagascar - Training in Reef check methods in Anjouan and Grande Comoros - 2 webinars, guide drafting/ dissemination and 2 field training workshop in coral bleaching assesment organised in Moroni and Zanzibar - Diseases identification training in Mauritius - Training in BD-Recif
3. 2- Network governance - National charters being drafted and validated - Regional charter reviewed - Data sharing agreement drafted and signed - Communication material produced (posters, leaflets, booklets } - Communication conducted with the Nairobi Convention CRTF - Coral bleaching monitoring strategies prepared for Comoros and Madagascar
3. 3- Information system - http://www.reefresilience.org/groups/network/indian-oceancommission/ www.cordioea.net/wio-bleaching-2016 Limitation of CRIS BD-RECIF as alternative
3.4- Reporting - Mobilisation of national and regional experts - Technical note and guidance with CORDIO and GCRMN - Metadata and summary data templates provided - Coral reef session at the 9 th WIOMSA scientific symposium in Durban: progress and national/regional chapters outlines - National reports workshop validation - Zanzibar workshop for report drafting - Support to the coral reef bleaching assessment and reporting
National chapters Summary structured 1 page Introduction (1 p) Status/Impacts (2) % coral cover % fleshy algae fish abundance/biomass macro-invertebrates Coral bleaching 2016 (1) Drivers/pressures & timeline Responses (1) Major trends/discussion (1) Recommendations (1) Nine chapters, approx. 9 pages each ( 80 pages( Regional chapters Regional analysis (David Obura, Mishal Gudka) coral cover fleshy algae fish gap analysis (sites, contributing programmes) Regional topics Climate change projections (UNEP) Coral bleaching 2016 (Mishal Gudka, Jean-Benoit Nicet) Findings/recommendations Build on WIO Strategic Action Programmes and Regional State of Coast Report In relation to Aichi Targets 10, 11 and SDG 14 Likely 40-45 pages
Hard coral cover a) Preliminary results Fleshy algal cover Some data still coming in (Madagascar, Tanzania, South Africa)
Comoros
Seychelles Percentage live hard coral cover ± SEM (%) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Time
Tanzania
Hard coral cover variation across countries Challenges - Long time run in South Africa (remaining data is being provided), but only one site - Stopping and starting of sites has a big impact on overview (Kenya, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Mozambique) - End of support to monitoring, and problems of data loss (Rodrigues, Mozambique) - Importance of consistency in monitoring (Reunion)
Fleshy algal cover variation across countries Challenges - Variation in how it is measured across countries and programmes
Fish abundance, numbers per hectare Very low consistency across countries. Only five so far reporting fish abundance, and among these, only Acanthuridae (surgeonfish) and Chaetodontidae (butteflyfish) recorded by all. Key herbivores (parrotfish) top predators (groupers, snappers, etc) not sampled broadly
Fish abundance, numbers per hectare
b) Preliminary discussions Partial participation of national, institutional and individual scientists Usable data Coral cover most complete coverage, with consistent methods and approaches Fleshy algal cover combining macro-, turf- and Halimeda, but these not all captured by all programmes in the same way. Fish abundance very incomplete different methods and approaches. Not possible to do a regional analysis. Macro-invertebrates not comprehensive enough for treatment in regional analysis/chapters there have been significant delays in compiling all the information the complexities of running an young network (many of these challenges are dealt with in the GCRMN proposal being discussed on 3 November). Data Sharing Agreement for GCRMN output alone Hope to develop an open online database after publication based on new/revised DSA
4. Next steps On going discussions with NGO as WCS and WWF for summury data contributions Edits to national chapters currently underway, as is analysis and writing in regional chapters. Full text and chapters due during December, with final production in early 2017. Post bleaching assesment including diseases and MIS Coralreef restoration Coral reef and associated ecosystem mapping BD-Recif deployment Institutional anchoring to national ICZM committees &CRTF Celebration of the 20 years anniversary of the Reef Network to allow visibility and think about sustainability
Akcnoledgements Funding Ag National Institutions TA Europeean Union FEEM GCRMN/UNEP/IC RI WIOMSA Islands/GDZC IOC projects IOC Secretariat MOI, AFRC, Shoals Rodrigues (Mauritius) SNPA, GVI (Seychelles) KMFRI, KWS (Kenya) CNRO, IHSM (Madagascar) IMS, NEMC (Tanzania) AIDE, PMM, DGE (Comoros) ORI (Sout Africa) GMX(Moz) Entropie Reserve marine Reunion IFREMER (Reunion/FR) CORDIO MAREX ARVAM - David Obural, Mishal Gudka, Julien Wickel, Jean Benoi Nicet, Lionel Bigot, Jean Pascal Quod, Suraj B., Vikash Mumbuth, Jude Bijoux, Patsy T., Jean Maharavo, Ihano A., Fouad A., Sarah Freed, Jelvas Mwara, Judith T., Saleh Yahaya, Rose Sallema and C.Muhando
http://commissionoceanindien.org/activites/biodiversite/ http://www.reefresilience.org/groups/network/indian-oceancommission/ Email: said.ahamada@coi-ioc.org Tel: +230 59439425 or +230 4026100 THANK YOU