Annual Report 2014 A Citizen Science Initiative in its Second Year BREAM: Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Analysis and Monitoring Programme Bermuda Zoological Society, PO Box 415, Flatts, FL-BX, BERMUDA

Citation: Murdoch TJT (2014) Reef Watch 2014: A citizen science initiative in its second year. Bermuda Biodiversity Project Report # 224, Bermuda Zoological Society, Flatts, Bermuda. pp 57. Contact: Thaddeus Murdoch, Ph.D. Chief Scientist Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Analysis and Monitoring (B.R.E.A.M.) Programme Bermuda Zoological Society, P.O. Box FL415, Flatts, FL-BX, BERMUDA http://www.bermudabream.org Tel: +441.293 2727 x2144; Cell: +441.505.8424 [email protected] Reef Watch – Organizational Team Richard Winchell, Ian Walker, Lynda Johnson, Darlene Butt-Fortene, Matthew Strong, Selange Gitschner, Nigel Pollard, Jessie Murdoch, Robbie Smith

Acknowledgements Primary support for the Reef Watch 2014 citizen science project was provided by: Hiscox Insurance Company (Bermuda) Limited Additional support was provided by: BGA, Marine Locker, Harry’s, AZU Beastro, Makin’ Waves, IRG – Island Restaurant Group, iClick, Coral Coast Clothing, Barritts, Goslings, and many BZS and BREAM volunteers.

This is Contribution #224, Bermuda Biodiversity Project (BBP), Bermuda Aquarium, Natural History Museum and Zoo, Department of Conservation Services © 2014 – Bermuda Zoological Society

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Executive Summary Coral reefs are the backbone of our island. Bermuda’s reefs produce the limestone sand that form the island, protect our shores, provide touring and recreational activities, food and attract overseas scientists and students. As coral reefs throughout the rest of the Atlantic succumb to deterioration and collapse, it is critical that we monitor the ecological condition of our coral reefs and fish stocks so that we may best manage the effects of many local and global impacts that can harm reef and fish health. On June 28th, 2014, with major support by Hiscox Bermuda Ltd, 20 teams of trained citizen scientists surveyed 39 coral reefs located across the entire Bermuda lagoon. Information was collected on reef environmental conditions, the status of fish population and on the condition of sessile and mobile reef organisms such as hard corals and lobsters. By surveying these reefs again in subsequent years we hope to provide a public source of information on the condition of our vital coral reef habitats and the fishes they support. As in the first Reef Watch day in 2013, our analyses again indicate that overall coral reef health is good, with abundant hard corals and parrotfishes and sparse reef algae (marine plants). However, commercial species of important predatory fishes (e.g. groupers and snappers) were rare or absent at most reefs. Similarly, lobsters (also commercially harvested) were only seen on a few of the 39 reefs surveyed. It remains a concern that so few of these popular shellfish, subject to both commercial and recreational fisheries management, were observed. Coral bleaching was not expected to be observed, since the Reef Watch survey event occurred in the end of June when water temperatures were not expected to be dangerous to corals. The pattern of coral bleaching observed by the Reef Watch team in the platform-wide assessment indicated that only a few reefs exhibited signs of bleaching, as expected. Overall the intent of Reef Watch is to teach Bermudian residents how to recognize the signs of healthy and distressed reefs, to learn how to survey reefs and to share their knowledge with the rest of the island and the world. For the second year in a row, over 100 citizen scientists took part on Reef Watch day, and we hope that even more will take part next year. A video about Reef Watch can be seen at: http://vimeo.com/74882777.

Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... i List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ iv Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 Past Reports .............................................................................................................................. 7 Methods ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods Manual ...................................................................................................................... 8 The Teams ................................................................................................................................. 8 Site Selection ............................................................................................................................. 9 Survey Protocols......................................................................................................................... 12 Fishes ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Benthic Organisms ................................................................................................................. 13 Data analyses .............................................................................................................................. 15 Reef Watch – Sea Life Index ................................................................................................. 15 Hard Coral Cover................................................................................................................... 15 Seaweeds ................................................................................................................................. 16 Herbivorous fishes ................................................................................................................. 18 Predatory fishes ...................................................................................................................... 18 Sea Life Index – Results ......................................................................................................... 19 Other measures of coral reef and fish population condition ............................................... 23 Hard Corals – the zonation of different coral groups....................................................... 23 Patterns of coral distribution ................................................................................................ 24 Coral Bleaching ...................................................................................................................... 25 Hard Coral Disease ................................................................................................................ 28 Damselfishes ........................................................................................................................... 30 Planktivores ............................................................................................................................ 35 Lobsters ................................................................................................................................... 37 Sea Urchins ............................................................................................................................. 38 Sea Cucumbers ....................................................................................................................... 39 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 40 References ................................................................................................................................... 42 Appendix . Raw data matrices for the Reef Watch sites ...................................................... 43

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List of Figures Fig. 1 A healthy Bermuda coral reef, with lots of corals, plant-eating fish and predatory fish, and not much sea weed, near Chub Beacon, west of Sandys Parish. Photograph © 2014 TJT Murdoch ..............................................................................................................3 Fig. 2. Through GIS mapping of a high-resolution aerial mosaic of photographs, the BREAM lab created this chart of all seagrass meadows, lagoonal patch reefs, boiler reefs and fore-reef sand-holes and sediment basins across the Bermuda platform (BREAM 2011). ...................................................................................................................................6 Fig. 3. The white arrow indicates a circular patch reef west of Margaret’s Bay, Sandys, measuring 50-m diameter, the dimensions selected for assessment in the ReefWatch study. ....................................................................................................................................9 Fig. 4. A map of the 100 sites we selected for the ReefWatch 2014 survey ................................10 Fig. 5. The 36 reefs surveyed in 2013. ..........................................................................................11 Fig. 6. Locations of the 38 sites surveyed on June 28, 2014 by the 20 Reef Watch citizen scientist teams. ...................................................................................................................11 Fig. 7. The fish survey slate. .........................................................................................................12 Fig. 8. The benthic survey slate. ...................................................................................................14 Fig. 9. Reefs with lots of corals grow more than they erode, building structural complexity which allows more species of fish, shellfish and other reef dwellers to find places to live......................................................................................................................................16 Fig. 10. This reef located near Ely’s Harbour has very high sea weed cover, indicative of poor ecological health. High rates of erosion have removed most structural complexity, resulting in fewer places for fish to hide and reducing the ability of the reef to protect the shore from storm waves. .......................................................................17 Fig. 11. Parrotfish, surgeonfish and silvery fish like bream all eat sea weeds on reefs. ...............18 Fig. 12. Snappers, small and large groupers are all important members of a healthy reef. ..........18 Fig. 13. The Sea Life Index rating for each of the sites surveyed on June 28th, 2014. .................19 Fig. 14. A map illustrating the Sea Life Index values for each reef site surveyed on August 31, 2013 by the Reef Watch citizen scientists. ..................................................................20 Fig. 15 Coral cover across the Bermuda platform, as measured by Reef Watch 2014. ..............23 Fig. 16 A map showing the zonal distributions of coral morphotype groups in the lagoon of the three types of coral surveyed by Reef Watch in 2014. ................................................24 Fig. 17. A small bleached rose coral (Isophyllia sinosa). .............................................................25 Fig. 18. Sea water temperature and bleach risk for years 2001 – 2013 (NOAA 2013). The thick solid black line shows the 2013 temperature records, compared to previous years. ..................................................................................................................................26 Fig. 19. NOAA chart of sea surface temperatures in the ocean around Bermuda in 2014.Unlike in 2013, no bleaching watches, warnings nor alerts were generated before or during Reef Watch Day 2014. ............................................................................27 Fig. 20. A map of the coral bleaching index at sites .surveyed in 2014. ......................................28 Fig. 21. A. Black-band disease on a brain coral. B. Yellow-band disease on a star coral. ...........29 Fig. 22. Maps of (a) Blackband and (b) Yellowband coral disease in 2014. ................................29 Fig. 23 A three-spot damselfish. Bermuda has three species of farming damselfishs..................30 Fig. 24. A damselfish territory can be seen within the red oval drawn on this photograph of a Bermuda patch reef. The territory includes both non-living reef rock and also a

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Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig.

substantial portion of a living star coral. The damselfish only removes small areas of coral tissue, but over time these small areas are expanded upon until the damselfish has caused substantial damage to the coral colony. ...........................................................31 25. A map of damselfish population size across the Reef Watch locations in 2013. ............32 26. The distribution of observed damselfish in 2014. ...........................................................32 27. Lionfish were also absent from all surveyed reefs in 2014. ............................................34 28. Planktivore fish distribution across the Bermuda Lagoon in 2013. ................................35 29. Planktivore distribution in 2014. .....................................................................................36 30. Lobster distribution and abundance in 2014....................................................................37 31. Sea urchin distribution across the Bermuda Platform. ....................................................38 32. Sea cucumber counts at each reef across the lagoon. ......................................................39

List of Tables Table 1. Potential and known threats to Bermuda’s reef .................................................................5 Table 2. Reef number designations for each Reef Watch team in 2014. ........................................8 Table 3. The Sea Life Index values of each of the surveyed Reef Watch 2013 reefs assessed on June 28th, 2014. Higher Sea Life Index values are more green, and indicate healthier levels of each parameter...................................................................................22 Table 4. The raw matrix of location, environment and fish data for all Reef Watch 2013 sites. Fish data represent counts per site. .................................................................................43 Table 5. The data matrix for benthic organisms, rugosity and large mobile invertebrates for all Reef Watch 2013 sites. All data except mobile invertebrates represents averages from 10 hula-hoop samples per site. ...............................................................................44 Table 6. The raw matrix of location, environment and fish data for all Reef Watch 2014 sites. Fish data represent counts per site. .................................................................................45 Table 7. The data matrix for benthic organisms, rugosity and large mobile invertebrates for all Reef Watch 2014 sites. All data except mobile invertebrates represents averages from 10 hula-hoop samples per site. ...............................................................................46

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Introduction This year, Bermuda was highlighted in a region-wide scientific study to have one of the last remaining healthy coral reef systems in the wider Caribbean (Jackson et al 2014). In July of 2014, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), part of the International Coral Reef Initiative (www.icriforum.com) released “Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012” (Jackson et al 2014); a report on the state of the coral reefs of the wider Caribbean, including Bermuda. This report summarized the information from over 35,000 coral and fish surveys carried out by more than 200 scientists working in 34 countries, states and territories from Brazil to Texas and Bermuda. Included were 14 scientists from Bermuda, including Dr. Robbie Smith from the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo, and Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping programme researchers and associates Dr. Thaddeus Murdoch, Jessie Murdoch, Dr. Annie Glasspool, Jack Ward, Mike Colella, Dr. Gerardo Toro-Farmer and Dr. Wolfgang Sterrer. The report can be found at: http://www.icriforum.org/caribbeanreport The main finding of the researchers who wrote the report is that the amount of coral on 88 reef locations of the Caribbean have declined from an average of 34.8% cover in the 1970s to 16.3% cover by 2012. These findings are unsettling, since coral reefs need to have over 30% coral cover in order to repair damage and grow new calcium carbonate substrate. Reefs with 10-30% cover may be able to retain mass, but those with less than 10% coral cover will likely erode However, not all locations have responded in the same manner through time. While reefs in Belize, Jamaica, Florida and much of the eastern Caribbean have declined steadily since the 1970s, seven locations, including Curacao, the Texas Flower Gardens Banks, and Bermuda, have retained their coverage of coral with little or no declines evident though time. The primary causes of reef decline across the wider Caribbean are: Overpopulation due to mass tourism, which leads to declines in water quality due to water pollution by sediments, sewage and agricultural run-off Overfishing, especially of plant-eating fishes such as parrotfishes and surgeonfishes Ocean warming which leads to bleaching and mortality in corals Invasive species, including diseases that kill corals and plant-eating sea urchins

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While these threats are causing broad-scale damage across the region, there is good reason to be hopeful for recovery. That is because most of these impacts are manageable at the local scale. Bermuda sets a great example by banning fish pts and protected parrotfishes over 20 years ago. We also have stringent rules regarding coastal development and have taken many measures to limit water pollution from land-based sources such as sewage and run-off. However, new threats to Bermuda’s coral reefs and their fishes and associated plants and animals do occur, so we must remain vigilant and we need to keep an eye on the condition of our reefs and fishes so that we can address problems as they arise. In fact, a potential threat that is only occurring on the reefs that the GCRMN report listed as healthy does seem to be occurring. Scientists in Bonaire (Steneck 2013), Curacao (Vermeij 2012) and our BREAM team in Bermuda have recorded high or increasing numbers of plant-eating damselfish. Damselfish grow farms of algae on reefs, but often kill corals to do so. Damselfish defend their farmed territories with vigor, which helps them keep away the surgeonfish and parrotfish that may eat their algal farms. This same attack behaviour also makes damselfish easy food for fish-eating fishes like grey snappers, and the small groupers such as coney, graysby and red hind. Overfishing of these small predatory fishes can release damselfish from predation, and allow their numbers to increase. Since damselfish each have their own territory, as they increase their population they spread across new reef area, often killing healthy corals in the process. It is important to limit the amount of fishing we do of the small predatory fishes, like red hinds and snappers, or else damselfish may kill corals even when the parrotfish are abundant and healthy. It is important that we monitor the condition of our coral reefs and fishes, because Bermuda’s coral reefs are vital to the persistence of our economy and cultural wellbeing. Living coral reefs (Fig. 1) act as a self-healing protective sea wall, blocking storm waves from destroying our fragile limestone shoreline and the coastal infrastructure and houses we have built along its edge. Our tourism industry relies on the beauty and charisma of our island; with a substantial contribution provided by our coral reefs for many recreational and aesthetic opportunities. An economic evaluation of the lagoonal reef, which represents half of the entire reef system, found that $750,000,000 to $1,250,000,000 are contributed to Bermuda’s economy annually by the reefs of Bermuda (Sarkis, van Beukering, McKenzie 2010). It is strongly in our best interests to ensure that the coral reef system that protects and sustains our lives is itself protected from the extensive harm that can be caused by deleterious human activities such as overfishing, dredging, shipping traffic and the global environmental threats of climate change and ocean acidification.

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Fig. 1 A healthy Bermuda coral reef, with lots of corals, plant-eating fish and predatory fish, and not much sea weed, near Chub Beacon, west of Sandys Parish. Photograph © 2014 TJT Murdoch Bermuda’s coral reef ecosystem covers an expanse of 750 sq. km. Despite this substantial size, historical monitoring of coral reef status and fish abundance were only assessed at a small number of isolated shallow locations, primarily at the east end of the island. It is impossible to understand and manage a large complex system like our coral reef when we have no clear idea of its baseline state or changes in reef health through time. The BREAM Project substantially increased the number and spatial extent of monitoring sites, starting in 2005, and has created a robust baseline from which to measure future changes. To properly manage a reef system a country needs to: 1: Obtain baseline information by: A. Mapping reef location to determine which shores are protected. B. Assessing the baseline status of fishes and benthic organisms like coral across the entire reef platform.

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2: Monitor the rates of growth versus erosion and changes in key factors that affect the resilience of reefs, such as parrotfish density or marine algae cover, that may change from baseline through time 3. Inform the public, resource managers and policy makers of the state of the reef and fish, so that local impacts can be managed by changing people’s behaviour, or by modifying our regulations. In order to directly address the lack of information about the state of our coral reefs and associated marine ecosystems, the Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping Programme was created in 2004. Since then my team and I have mapped (Fig. 2) and quantified the distribution and ecological condition of coral reefs, seagrass beds and other marine habitats across the entire Bermuda reef platform from the shore to a depth of 130ft. The data collected by BREAM is unique, in providing not only an accurate map of the distribution of reefs, as both submerged rocks and as critical habitat, but also in providing the much-needed baseline by which future resource management and conservation action can be guided and assessed for success. Moving forward it is vital that Bermuda’s fishes and marine habitats are continually monitored for their ecological health. Many threats exist that could impact not only the reef but also our island livelihoods (Table 1). Threats can be categorized according to source. Local threats are those that happen within the outer boundary of the Bermuda reef platform, and that generally can be managed by changing people’s behaviour (Smith et al 2013). Global threats, alternatively, are occurring across the planet due to changes in atmospheric and oceanic concentrations of pollutants such as carbon dioxide. These global threats must be controlled at their source. The resultant impacts, such as a decline in the capacity of reefs to grow or an increase in coral disease, will also likely require local mitigation and management.

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Table 1. Potential and known threats to Bermuda’s reef Local threats to Bermuda’s coral reefs: 1. Over-fishing or over-harvesting 2. Dredging of channels 3. Sedimentation created by ship wake 4. Coastal development 5. Boat traffic and groundings 6. Marine diseases affecting corals and fishes 7. Coral bleaching cause by above normal or below normal water temperatures 8. Chemical pollution from land run-off and marine dumping 9. Marine debris, particularly plastic trash 10. Invasive species (e.g. lionfish) Global Threats are primarily from two sources: (1) Climate change, resulting in a warming ocean that stresses marine life and causes sea level to rise, and changes in rain pattern which substantially affect large-scale nitrogen deposition patterns in the ocean. (2) Ocean acidification, resulting from higher carbon dioxide levels , that can slow coral growth. The key indicators of whether threats are impacting a reef are as follows: 1) Total hard coral cover 2) Coral recruitment 3) Coral disease 4) Cover of sea weeds (marine plants) 5) Abundance of plant-eating fishes, including parrotfish, surgeonfish and silvery fish 6) Abundance of plant-eating sea urchins 7) Abundance of fish-eating fishes, including groupers and snappers 8) Water quality The Reef Watch programme teaches citizen scientists how to assess all but #2 from this list.

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Fig. 2. Through GIS mapping of a high-resolution aerial mosaic of photographs, the BREAM lab created this chart of all seagrass meadows, lagoonal patch reefs, boiler reefs and fore-reef sand-holes and sediment basins across the Bermuda platform (BREAM 2011). It is also very important that we make Bermudians aware of both the vitality of Bermuda’s reef system, and its fragility. The best way to do so is to empower Bermudians to be able to accurately assess the condition of coral reefs and their fishes themselves, so they are no longer solely reliant upon research scientists nor the government to provide the critical reef health information. We created Reef Watch to provide local residents of Bermuda with the tools to critically evaluate the condition and threats to Bermuda’s coral reefs – by training with hands-onexperience and by creating a public portal to share information to get the word out to the broader public, resource managers and policy makers.

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The Reef Watch programme addressed these needs by: 1. Training snorkelers and divers in the identification of key species of fishes, corals and other reef invertebrates, assessment methods for coral reefs and associated fishes, taking advantage of unique facilities available at the BAMZ, including its aquarium. 2. Providing knowledge on the range of reef fishes, benthic biota and reef habitats around Bermuda and their separate ecological challenges and value. 3. Providing initiatives/rewards for sampling across a range of reef habitats, so that the citizen scientist becomes intimately aware of the issues facing each reef zone 4. Having a grand day of community action, to develop the network and crystallize the initiative focussed on enhancing the health of Bermuda’s reef ecosystem. 5. Providing the media-based and online vehicles for citizen-generated data sharing and interpretation, its transmission to policy makers and resource managers, and as a sentinel warning system to detect significant environmental events such as fish die-offs or coral bleaching, so they can be addressed by the Bermuda Government’s Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Conservation Services.

Past Reports The Annual Report for the 2013 Reef Watch programme (Murdoch 2013) can be viewed at any of the following websites:

1. www.bzs.org 2. www.bermudareefwatch.org 3. http://www.bamz.org/files/researchproject/reef_watch_2013__murdoch__masteb zs_website.pdf 4. http://bermudabream.blogspot.com/2014/05/reef-watch-2013-report-via-openaccess.html

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Methods Methods Manual The methodologies used for Reef Watch are available in the Reef Watch methods manual (Murdoch 2014) available at the following web page: http://bermudabream.blogspot.com/2014/09/bzs-reef-watch-methods-manual.html The Teams In 2014, 20 teams took part in the BZS Reef Watch survey day, comprised of about 100 children and adults. The team names and the number designations of the reefs they surveyed are listed in Table 2 below. Fig. 6, below, shows the locations of each team’s reefs. Table 2. Reef number designations for each Reef Watch team in 2014. Team Appleby Coral Coast Crikey Mate Dolphin Quest Dom Perignon Endurance Firefly Glencoe Ashley Dupree Kelly Winfield Kerberos Plastic Tides Porgy Protectors Reef Rummer Reefspect Ren Re Skin E Dippers Two of Us Uncle Dewey Zuill

Reefs 1449 1444 1491 1400 1401 1484 1452 1424 1456 1442 1468 1435 1432 1455 1461 1481 1422 1423 1488 1421

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1454 1445 1492 1414 1413 1485 1460 1440 1467 1453 1474 1446 1459 1476 1486 1428 1425 1496 1470

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Site Selection In 2013, 55 sites were selected for potential assessment by the citizen scientists. Since it seemed likely that more reefs will be needed as the popularity of the project grows through the years, a new set of 100 reefs were selected for the second year of Reef Watch in 2014. These 100 sites will be used in future years. It is important to ensure the data from each reef survey site is comparable to the other reef sites, regardless of the amount of time it takes each team to do the survey work at each reef. To standardize all the sites we used ArcGIS and the BREAM reef polygon layer to select lagoonal patch reefs of similar size. Reefs measuring between 1000- and 2000-m2 and with a diameter of 50-meters across were selected using a search algorithm in ArcGis. By constraining the diameter to area ratio of each reef polygon selected, we were able to automatically choose reefs with a relatively circular shape when viewed from above (e.g. Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The white arrow indicates a circular patch reef west of Margaret’s Bay, Sandys, measuring 50-m diameter, the dimensions selected for assessment in the ReefWatch study.

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From the thousands of potential reefs available, we chose a subset of 100 reefs which were distributed across the entire reef platform at different distances from shore and from east to west (Fig. 4). Also, we selected reefs that were fairly far apart from each other so that most of the reef lagoon was covered by the survey process and so that the citizen scientist teams had a wide range of locations from which to pick their own reefs to survey. Each team was asked to pick one reef further from shore, and one either centrally located or near-shore, and near the end of the island most convenient to them based on where they kept their boat or collected their crew. The reefs each team picked in 2013 can be seen in Fig. 5, and those reefs selected in 2014 can be seen in Fig. 6.

Fig. 4. A map of the 100 sites we selected for the ReefWatch 2014 survey

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Fig. 5. The 36 reefs surveyed in 2013.

Fig. 6. Locations of the 38 sites surveyed on June 28, 2014 by the 20 Reef Watch citizen scientist teams.

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Survey Protocols Fishes We developed an inexpensive, simple, non-invasive method for the measuring the population abundance of key fish species and for the assessment of coral reef health. Observers were asked to swim around the reef for 30 to 60 minutes and record the number of fishes observed in selected categories of species. Fish sightings were recorded directly on the Reef Watch slate specifically designed for underwater use and which included a colour guide to the target fish species (Fig. 7). Fish were assigned to groups based on relatedness (taxonomy) or based on shared food preferences (trophic guilds). The groups of fish assessed were: Groupers, Snappers, Parrotfishes, Doctorfishes, Silvery fishes (Breams, Chubs and Porgys), Plankton Eaters (Blue head wrasse, sergeant majors and creole wrasse), damselfishes (three-spot, dusky and bi-coloured), butterfly fishes (striped, four-eye, spotfin and banded) and the invasive lionfish. Ecological reasons for surveying each fish group will be described in the results section below.

Fig. 7. The fish survey slate. 12

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Benthic Organisms Fig. 8, below, shows the benthic survey sheet used in the Reef Watch assessments. Corals, sea cucumbers and other benthic plants and animals that live on the sea floor or reef surface were surveyed following four different methodologies: (1) Hard and soft corals, seaweeds (macro-algae) and the substrate categories of sand and bare rock were assessed as a percentage cover within a 1-m wide hula-hoop that was haphazardly tossed onto the rocky reef surface at ten different locations. (2) Black-band and yellow-band coral diseases and coral bleaching of hard corals were assessed by noting its presence within each hula-hoop toss, on a “Yes-No” basis. (3) The amount of vertical relief or roughness of the reef (rugosity) was measured by estimating the maximum vertical extent of reef rock within each hula-hoop spot. (4) Large crawling reef animals (otherwise known as mobile invertebrate megafauna) – which included lobsters, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and nudibranchs (sea slugs) were counted over the course of a 30 minute swim around the whole reef area, after the hula-hoop surveys were finished. Other interesting creatures could also be added to this secion.

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Fig. 8. The benthic survey slate.

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Data analyses Reef Watch – Sea Life Index The Sea Life Index is a combination of four fundamental indicators of the ecological condition of each reef, derived from the survey results, as described in the table below. The parameters values from each indicator are combined to form the Sea Life Index number that indicates the ecological health of the reef overall. Values for each separate parameter are classified as “Poor”, “Fair” or “Good” based on their relative contribution to overall reef condition. Sea Life Index

Poor

Fair

Good

Hard Coral Cover (%)

0 - 10

10 -30

30 +

Sea Weed Cover (%)

50 +

15 - 50

0 - 15

Herbivore Density

0 - 20

20 - 40

40 +

Predator Density

0 - 10

10 - 20

20 +

The separate components of the index are as follows: Hard Coral Cover Reef corals are colonial animals similar to sea anemones that contain tiny symbiotic dinoflagellate marine plants within their tissue. Reef corals can therefore capture food from the water column and also the symbiotic plants can produce sugars via photosynthesis that provide energy for their coral hosts. Reef corals build reefs by secreting a non-living calcium carbonate skeleton under the thin layer of tissue that forms the living surface of the coral colony. Through time the shared contribution of the growth, death and accumulation of many coral colonies can build entire reefs covering many hundreds or thousands of square kilometres. Bermuda’s current shallow reefs are about 7000 years old. Healthy reefs are those that have a high coverage of hard corals (e.g. Fig. 9). Reef growth is sustained when coral growth occurs more quickly than the rate of the erosion that is caused by environmental and biological factors. Storms, waves and currents pick up sand which abrades the surface of the reef. Many types of animal, including sponges and bivalves live by burrowing into the hard reef rock created by corals. Most kinds of parrotfish scrape the reef surface, generating sand, while carrying out their important job of eating sea weeds (algae) that grow on the reef. Only reefs with over 30% coral cover produce more reef rock than is removed by erosion (Perry et al 2013). Reefs with 10 – 30% cover will probably persist, but are not growing any faster than they are eroding. Reefs with less than 10% coral cover are eroding faster than they are growing. These “poor” reefs with low coral cover will 15

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eventually erode away unless new corals establish on the reef and start new reef growth.

Fig. 9. Reefs with lots of corals grow more than they erode, building structural complexity which allows more species of fish, shellfish and other reef dwellers to find places to live. Seaweeds Seaweeds are marine plants, also called algae. Like hard corals, sea weeds also use sunlight to grow on the surface of coral reefs, but they do not produce calcium carbonate skeletons and as a result do not help build reef structure. Reef plants also use the same space on the reef that could be used by hard corals, and reef plants can even compete with corals and kill them to take over the space occupied by hard corals. For these reasons reefs that possess a high coverage of sea weeds are considered to be in poor health (e.g. Fig. 10), as they are not capable of growing new reef as the plants are preventing hard corals from growing. We classified reefs with more than 50% sea weed cover as poor reefs. Reefs with between 15% and 50% sea weed cover generally have enough room remaining for healthy hard coral growth, and are in fair health. The healthiest reefs have very low sea weed cover of less than 15%.

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Fig. 10. This reef located near Ely’s Harbour has very high sea weed cover, indicative of poor ecological health. High rates of erosion have removed most structural complexity, resulting in fewer places for fish to hide and reducing the ability of the reef to protect the shore from storm waves.

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Herbivorous fishes Herbivorous fishes eat marine plants. Fishes belonging to the Parrotfish, Surgeonfish and the Silvery categories all eat sea weeds, removing them from the reef surface (Fig. 11). Damselfishes are also herbivores but can have a detrimental effect on reefs, as described below. Reefs with 15% to 50% sea weed cover can be kept in fair shape or even cleared of sea weed to below 15% cover if the number of herbivorous fishes is high. We classified reefs with over 40 herbivorous fish of any of the three categories as in good health. Reefs with 20 – 40 herbivorous fish probably are being grazed at a moderate level, and are being kept in fair condition. Reefs with less than 20 herbivorous fish are unlikely to have the sea weeds removed at a fast enough rate to keep the sea weeds from overtaking all the space and driving overall reef health down to a “poor” condition.

Fig. 11. Parrotfish, surgeonfish and silvery fish like bream all eat sea weeds on reefs. Predatory fishes Predatory fishes are those that eat other fishes. The grouper category includes predators of three different sizes: the small hamlets, the mid-sized red hinds, coneys and graysbys, and the large black grouper and other rockfish (Fig. 12). Several types of snapper occur in Bermuda, including grey snapper and yellowtail snapper. The snappers and mid-sized groupers are especially important as they eat damselfish, which are small fish that kill hard corals. Large groupers are also important as they feed on parrotfishes, keeping parrotfish populations healthy by removing sick fish from the reef. Healthy coral reefs generally have more than 20 predatory fish in a 2000m2 area. Reefs with less than 10 predatory fish will likely be overrun by damselfish, leading to a decline in overall reef health through time.

Fig. 12. Snappers, small and large groupers are all important members of a healthy reef.

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Sea Life Index – Results

Fig. 13. The Sea Life Index rating for each of the sites surveyed on June 28th, 2014.

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Fig. 14. A map illustrating the Sea Life Index values for each reef site surveyed on August 31, 2013 by the Reef Watch citizen scientists. The Sea Life Index results for each reef surveyed on June 28th, 2014 are plotted in Fig. 13 above, and listed in Table 3 below. The results from 2013 are also presented, in Fig 14. In 2014 as in 2013, the predominant pattern on a regional level it the wide-scale lack of predatory fish across most of the western and eastern sides of the Bermuda lagoon. Only reefs in the centre of the lagoon show fair to good levels of these functionally critical important fishes. Herbivorous fishes are generally in fair or good abundance, except on the central lagoon where they are naturally in low abundance (Murdoch et al 2008). Coral cover is also in fair or good condition across most of the reefs surveyed on in 2014. Sea weeds (also known as macro-algae) were in very low or low abundance everywhere except the south-western-most sites, which is a positive attribute indicative of healthy reefs with a high level of herbivory from fishes or macroinvertebrates. Overall the ecological condition of the coral reef ecosystem across the platform is either fair or good on all the reefs assessed, as measured by combining the separate indices for

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predatory fish, herbivorous fish, hard coral cover and sea weed cover into the Sea Life Index (SLI). As in 2013, a cluster of reefs in only fair condition can be seen north of Somerset Island, due to low populations of both predatory fishes and herbivorous fishes, and some reefs with only fair coral indices. In 2014 no reefs were surveyed close to the North Shore in the centre of the island, where in 2013 Reef 22 stood out as being in the poorest condition, due to a combination of low predator numbers, low coral cover and fairly high sea weed cover. Reefs near shore in this area are exposed to colder temperatures in winter, and hotter temperatures in summer, as well as intense fishing pressure, high levels of human-sourced nutrients emitted from groundwater near the coast, and sediment plumes from shipping traffic though the nearby South shipping channel. It may be that reefs in this zone are still in poor condition but this year’s assessment did not include information from the zone.

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Table 3. The Sea Life Index values of each of the surveyed Reef Watch 2013 reefs assessed on June 28th, 2014. Higher Sea Life Index values are more green, and indicate healthier levels of each parameter. RWID Team 1401 Dom Perignon 1413 Dom Perignon 1414 Zuill 1421 Zuill 1422 Skin E Dippers 1423 Two of Us 1424 Glencoe 1425 Two of Us 1428 Skin E Dippers 1432 Porgy Protectors 1435 Plastic Tides 1440 Glencoe 1446 Porgy Protectors 1452 Firefly 1453 Kelly Winfield 1455 Reef Rummer 1456 Ashley Dupree 1459 Reef Rummer 1461 Reefspect 1467 Ashley Dupree 1468 Kerberos 1470 Firefly 1474 Kerberos 1476 Reefspect 1481 Ren Re 1484 Endurance 1485 Endurance 1486 Ren Re 1488 Uncle Dewey 1491 Crikey Mate 1492 Crikey Mate 1496 Uncle Dewey 1400 DolphinQuest

Predator 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

Herbivore 3 3 2 3 1 2 3 2 2 2 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 3 1 3 3 1 2 1 3 3 2 1 1

22

Coral 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3

Seaweed 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

SLI 2.5 2.0 2.0 2.3 2.0 2.3 2.8 2.3 2.3 2.3 1.8 2.3 2.0 2.3 3.0 2.5 2.8 2.3 2.5 2.3 1.8 2.5 2.0 3.0 2.5 2.0 2.3 1.8 2.5 2.8 2.3 2.0 2.0

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Other measures of coral reef and fish population condition Hard Corals – the zonation of different coral groups The percent cover of hard corals, as assessed by estimates from 10 hula hoops per reef site assessed by the ReefWatch citizen scientists on June 28th 2014, is plotted in Fig 14, below. Only two reefs were surveyed with less than 20% coral cover; one near Daniels Head and one near the North shipping channel. All other reefs had more cover. Coral reefs with less than 10% coral cover are probably eroding and are considered unhealthy. Reefs with 10-20% coral cover are considered moderately healthy, and are probably neither growing nor eroding. Reefs with more than 20% cover are healthy and are capable of growth and substrate re-development after large storms.

Fig. 15 Coral cover across the Bermuda platform, as measured by Reef Watch 2014.

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Patterns of coral distribution Hard corals were categorized into three different groups, according to coral colony morphology and polyp shape. Thin branching corals were all grouped into the “Finger” category. Massive corals with individual polyps were all lumped into the “Star-coral” category, while the two local species of grooved-polyp corals were assessed under the “Brain-coral” category. By mapping the relative contribution of total hard coral cover according to the morphological group of corals at each reef one can look for patterns of zonation across the Bermuda lagoon (Fig. 16). We used ArcGIS to plot pie-charts of the average percent cover of each type of coral at each location, with the total average coral cover percentage represented by the size of each pie chart – with large circles representing a higher percentage total coral cover. It can be seen that the central lagoon north of North Shore is dominated by branching finger corals. This area is prone to high levels of suspended sediment, which can smother the brain and star corals but which finger corals can shed easily. To the east and west, within the lagoon, the reefs are dominated by star corals. Outer patch reefs near the reef rim, alternately, are dominated by brain corals, which perhaps are better capable of withstanding the high wave energy environment near the open ocean.

Fig. 16 A map showing the zonal distributions of coral morphotype groups in the lagoon of the three types of coral surveyed by Reef Watch in 2014.

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Coral Bleaching When hard corals are exposed to environmental extremes, such as exceptionally hot or cold weather, or high levels of ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, they become stressed and begin to expel the symbiotic dinoflagellate plants that live inside their tissues and become paler in colour. In the most extreme state of bleaching a coral has a translucent white appearance (Fig. 17). While the corals are still alive, they can only survive being in a completely bleached state for a week or two at most. If stressful environmental conditions do not diminish to the level where the symbiotic plants can return to the coral tissue, the coral dies.

Fig. 17. A small bleached rose coral (Isophyllia sinosa). A graph (below) of sea water temperature around Bermuda (Fig. 18, from NOAA 2013) in the summer of 2013 shows a very rapid rise in water temperature in June and subsequently the hottest water temperatures in 12 years, until the middle of August. Reef Watch Day occurred only a few days after Bermuda was downgraded from NOAA’s Bleach Alert Level 1 to Bleaching Watch

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Fig. 18. Sea water temperature and bleach risk for years 2001 – 2013 (NOAA 2013). The thick solid black line shows the 2013 temperature records, compared to previous years. Unlike in 2013, Reef Watch Day fell earlier in the summer in 2014, on June 28th. Sea surface temperatures would not have had time to warm sufficiently to cause bleaching, and this is confirmed by examination of the NOAA water temperature data for that period (Fig. 19). Bleaching was assessed by recording the presence of any bleached coral within each of the 10 haphazardly placed hula-hoop quadrats across each of the Reef Watch reefs. Counts of bleaching per reef were tabulated and summed for each reef, and the results graphically displayed using ArcGIS software (Fig. 20). Higher counts reflect greater levels of coral bleaching across each reef.

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Fig. 19. NOAA chart of sea surface temperatures in the ocean around Bermuda in 2014.Unlike in 2013, no bleaching watches, warnings nor alerts were generated before or during Reef Watch Day 2014. Overall bleaching indicators are low across the platform. However, there is an unexpected cluster of moderate to high bleached coral indicated in the upper left area of the lagoon. While causes for bleaching during late June are unclear, this area is downstream of the rest of the lagoon during the prevailing summer winds which blow from Southeast to Northwest, so perhaps lower quality or warmer water has induced corals to bleach there.

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Fig. 20. A map of the coral bleaching index at sites .surveyed in 2014.

Hard Coral Disease The Reef Watch citizen scientists were trained to assess two types of coral disease. These diseases can be identified by their visual appearance when infecting coral colonies. Black-band disease affects primarily star and brain corals. A suite of microorganisms forms a black line that advances across the living yellow coral surface of a coral head, leaving bare white skeleton (Fig. 21 A). Yellow-band is also probably formed by a group of microscopic organisms. It also creates an expanding line or ring, in this case white or yellow, that leaves dead coral skeleton behind (Fig. 21 B). Both diseases can kill entire coral colonies, and can persist on the same colony for several years. In some cases the remaining healthy parts of the coral colony can recolonize the dead skeleton, although other corals, sea weeds, sponges and other competing organisms will also take advantage of the exposed skeleton in ways that may harm the host coral colony, or prevent it from growing back.

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B

A

Fig. 21. A. Black-band disease on a brain coral. B. Yellow-band disease on a star coral. Both diseases were assessed by recording their presence or absence on any coral within each of the 10 hula-hoop samples. Disease counts per site were assigned to each reef and mapped across the lagoon.

B

A

Fig. 22. Maps of (a) Blackband and (b) Yellowband coral disease in 2014. Yellowband and blackband disease were only recorded in high levels in the same northeast area of the lagoon. This is also the same area where coral bleaching was observed this year. Causes for higher disease levels within this area are unknown, but may be due to the down-stream nature of the sites due to the prevailing SW winds Bermuda experiences in the summer months. These winds would set up a NE flowing current, which would expose the reefs to the NE to lower quality water conditions as murky lagoonal water exits the shallow reef platform with a falling tide.

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Damselfishes Bermuda supports three species of damselfish. Damselfishes are small, measuring less than 13 cm (5”), and eat primarily seaweeds (Fig. 23). Unlike parrotfishes and doctorfishes, who swim over a reef to forage for food, damselfish remain in place and maintain “lawns” of specific seaweeds (algae) within their territorial farms. Unfortunately, in creating their farms, damselfish often damage, and occasionally kill coral by taking small bites from the living coral tissue of a coral colony, creating bare skeleton that can be colonized by algae (Fig. 24). This is because it is easier for a damselfish to control what seaweeds grow on the freshly killed skeleton of a coral than it is to clear existing reef rock to provide space for their preferred plants.

Fig. 23 A three-spot damselfish. Bermuda has three species of farming damselfishs. Since the sea weeds found within a damselfish farm are generally of better quality than on the surrounding reef surface, other herbivorous fishes try to eat the damselfish’s seaweeds. To prevent the loss of their algae damselfish guard their territorial farm and will attack much larger fish to do so. Since damselfish are small and aggressive, they are easy prey for small predatory groupers and snappers. It is generally thought that reefs with high numbers of mid-sized predatory fish (coneys, graysbys and snappers) will have fewer damselfish, and therefore also healthier coral.

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Fig. 24. A damselfish territory can be seen within the red oval drawn on this photograph of a Bermuda patch reef. The territory includes both non-living reef rock and also a substantial portion of a living star coral. The damselfish only removes small areas of coral tissue, but over time these small areas are expanded upon until the damselfish has caused substantial damage to the coral colony. The Reef Watch citizen scientists counted damselfish as part of the 30- to 60-minute fish survey over the whole 2000 m2 reef they were assigned. The three types of damselfish that damage coral were included in the surveys, but not the yellowtail damselfish, which does not damage corals. Total counts for each reef were tabulated, assigned to a category based on abundance over the whole (standardized) reef area and plotted in a map of the entire Bermuda lagoon (Fig. 25, below). In 2013, damselfish were observed to be in moderate (20 to 40 per reef) or high abundance (i.e. more than 40 per study reef) at fourteen reefs located in the central area of the lagoon and north of Sandys parish. Reefs located on the eastern and western extremes of the lagoon, and nearer to shore, exhibited less than 20 damselfish per reef, which we consider to be a healthy population size for reefs of this areal extent. Reefs with high densities of damselfish but high coral cover now may degrade in the future, and should be the focus of attention for other signs of negative reef health. 31

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Fig. 25. A map of damselfish population size across the Reef Watch locations in 2013.

Fig. 26. The distribution of observed damselfish in 2014.

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In 2014 many more damselfish were observed than in 2013, perhaps due to increased awareness on the part of the participants regarding the potential threat damselfish pose to Bermuda’s coral reefs. High densities were seen in sites clustered at the southwest side of the lagoon, west of Pompano Beach, as well as along the north side of Somerset Island and in the central lagoon. Sites with few or no damselfish were also observed scattered in a patchy manner across the lagoon. Lionfish There has been much concern in Bermuda in the past 10 years about the introduction of Pacific lionfish to the Atlantic and their subsequent arrival in Bermuda waters in 1999. Our BREAM surveys have only once counted lionfish despite surveying over 180 locations with expert fish counters from 2004-2011. Lionfish were counted as part of the roaming snorkel survey of each entire patch reef. As in 2013, no lionfish were observed at any of the 35 Reef Watch sites assessed in 2014 (Error! Reference source not found.). It may be that lionfish are inactive in the day time and stay within cavities in the reef, only to come out to hunt at night. Alternatively the introduced species may be in lower abundance than is generally thought to be the case. Nocturnal surveys by research scientists would be needed to determine whether the lack of lionfish apparent in the Reef Watch surveys is representative of the true distribution of lionfish in the lagoon.

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Fig. 27. Lionfish were also absent from all surveyed reefs in 2014.

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Planktivores Planktivorous fishes are those that eat microscopic animals, termed zooplankton , that are suspended in the water column. By doing so, planktivorous fishes transfer significant amounts of energy and nutrients into the reef ecosystem. Zooplankton includes minute crustaceans (copepods, mysid shrimp) and fish and invertebrate larvae. Planktivorous fishes have been proposed to be one of the limiting factors that naturally controls lionfish abundance in the Pacific, so we included in them in the Reef Watch survey so we could examine whether they were limiting lionfish in Bermuda. In 2013, planktivores were seen to be most abundant on Western Ledge reefs and on central reefs within the lagoon and very low at seven sites within the lagoon (Fig. 28). Many of the reefs where low numbers of planktivores were observed are generally populated by substantial numbers of white grunts (tomtates) which should have been included in the surveys. Subsequent investigation will need to determine whether tomtate populations have declined or if the species was missed in some Reef Watch fish counts.

Fig. 28. Planktivore fish distribution across the Bermuda Lagoon in 2013.

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Fig. 29. Planktivore distribution in 2014. Planktivorous fish were generally in lower abundance in 2014 than in 2013, with no sites seen to possess over 200 fishes. Most sites had between 10 and 100 fishes of this group, with a few high-density sites with over 100 fishes seen near the west end of the island and at the backreef south of North Rock.

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Lobsters Spiny lobsters are a commercially managed shellfish. Reef Watch citizen scientists counted all the lobsters they could find on each reef within 30 minutes, after completing the benthic part of the survey. In 2014, as in 2013, most reefs were found to not have any lobsters (Fig. 30). Four sites were observed with one lobster, and one reef had two lobsters. All of the sites with lobsters were seen to be on the western side of the lagoon or in the central area.

Fig. 30. Lobster distribution and abundance in 2014.

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Sea Urchins Sea urchins play an important role on coral reefs, in that they eat sea weeds which compete for space with hard corals. The long-spined sea urchin used to be very abundant across the entire Caribbean, but was made regionally extinct by an outbreak of disease in the early-1980s. Small surviving populations have been seen on offshore reefs in Bermuda and elsewhere, however. It is important to monitor sea urchins to see if they ever recover since they had been an important part of the ecology of healthy reefs. Sea urchin species found in Bermuda are edible and are recreationally and commercially exploited in the Caribbean. However, little or no taking of local sea urchins occurs in local waters. Sea urchins were surveyed by the benthic survey team over 30 minutes, as part of the mobile fauna assessment after the benthic survey. Sea urchins were not identified to species. In 2014, sea urchins were generally absent or rare, with over 3 urchins per reef only observed in the NE sector of the lagoon.

Fig. 31. Sea urchin distribution across the Bermuda Platform.

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Sea Cucumbers Sea cucumbers are soft-bodied relatives of sea urchins. They live in and around coral reefs and obtain nutrition by ingesting sediment and digesting microscopic marine plants and bacteria from the sands. Sea cucumbers are a commercially exploited species across most of the world. They are unprotected by Bermuda’s fisheries legislation at the moment, but there is interest in setting up either a harvest or aquaculture of sea cucumbers for the export market in Bermuda. Sea cucumbers were also counted as part of the roving snorkel surveys over a 30 minute time frame, at each reef. Sea cucumbers were not identified to the species level. Sea cucumber populations were found to be very low in the western lagoonal reefs and at some central reefs. However, as in 2013, many reefs north of Sandys parish, St. Georges parish, and the central lagoon supported moderate to high densities of sea cucumber. If harvesting of sea cucumbers is permitted in the future, then Reef Watch surveys may act as one means for fisheries managers to assess changes in their abundance and lead to better regulation of the fishery.

Fig. 32. Sea cucumber counts at each reef across the lagoon.

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Discussion 20 teams of Reef Watch citizen scientists went out on June 28th 2014 and surveyed 38 patch reefs located across the North Lagoon. This armada of reef surveyors counted over 4000 individual fishes classified into nine categories based on their important jobs on the reef. 400 surveys within hula hoops were taken to measure coral health and the amount of sea weed and mobile reef inhabitants like lobsters, sea cucumbers and sea urchins that are found on the lagoonal reefs. Predatory fish such as groupers and snappers are important in controlling the numbers of coral-killing damselfish that live on the reef. Parrotfishes, surgeonfishes and chubs eat seaweeds which fight for space with reef corals. Damselfishes are native members of the reef community, but when left unchecked cause damage to corals by growing turf algae gardens on coral skeletons. A healthy reef has lots of predatory fish and planteating (herbivorous) fish, and few damselfish. Analysis of the 2014 Reef Watch indicates some good news and some bad news. Planteating herbivorous fishes were highly abundant on over 50% of the reefs surveyed and only rare on inshore reefs where they naturally do not occur. Unfortunately the Reef Watch surveys also found abundant predators on 10% of reefs, and highly abundant predators on only 7% of reefs. Conversely, over 80% of reefs were seen to have very low to no predators. Probably as a consequence of few predatory fish being on the reefs, damselfish were seen to be very abundant on over 50% of the reefs, and abundant on another 30%. Only 17% of reefs were seen to have the low numbers of damselfish that we expect to see if the fish populations and coral reefs were in a healthy condition. We found the same pattern of too few predators and too many damselfish in 2013. The recent report by GCRMN, which included BREAM reef and fish data (http://gcrmn.org/gcrmn-publication/status-and-trends-of-caribbean-coral-reefs-19702012/) highlighted the importance of parrotfishes in contributing to the health of Bermuda’s coral reefs. Bermuda’s status as one of 7 health reefs left in the Caribbean is a cause for celebration. However, while it is true that parrotfish are plentiful, thanks to being protected from fishing since 1993, and that they contribute substantially to the high overall coral reef health we enjoy in Bermuda, we need to also ensure Bermuda has high populations of mid-sized and large grouper and snapper. Otherwise coralkilling damselfish will continue to expand their domain, damaging more reefs as their populations spread across more reefs.

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The Sea Life Index indicates the current condition of reefs across the Bermuda platform that can be compared to historic data. By continuing Reef Watch, both through annual Reef Watch Day events, and by promoting Reef Watch surveys by trained teams throughout the year we will be able to monitor changes in reef condition through time. By posting the results as quickly as possible, important measures of the health of Bermuda’s coral reefs will be available for review by both the public and policy makers. Coral bleaching has been surveyed by local scientists in the past, but never across the entire platform at 35 sites within a single day until the first Reef Watch Day, in August 2013. Coral bleaching is a fairly ephemeral phenomenon, and the spatial patterns of high or low severity probably change across the platform as summer water temperatures change over the course of weeks or months. Bleaching was apparent in 2013, when the survey was carried out in during the hottest period of the summer, but not in 2014, when the summer was just beginning. It seems clear that the Reef Watch protocol is a very useful procedure to add to the management tool belt to assess the extent bleaching events over the entire Bermuda lagoon in a timely fashion, but that the cross-platform surveys need to be carried out when bleaching is indicated by environmental data such as sea water temperature. As in 2013, Reef Watch seems to provide a useful way to monitor and perhaps assist in the management of commercially and recreationally harvested large mobile benthic organisms such as lobsters, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. These slow moving and easily identified marine biota are charismatic and well known by most ocean advocates, and the snorkelling technique used by Reef Watch is also the only means by which licensed persons can legally harvest lobsters. However, care must be taken to instruct snorkelers to look on the sides of the patch reefs as well as the tops, or else lobsters will be undersampled.

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References Gardner, T.A., Cote, I.M., Gill, J.A., Grant, A. & Watkinson, A.R. (2003). Long-term region-wide declines in Caribbean corals. Science, 301, 958–960. Jackson JBC, Donovan MK, Cramer KL, Lam VV (editors). (2014) Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/caribbean_coral_reefs___status_report_1970_2012.pdf Hammond MP, Murdoch TJT, Glasspool AF, Outerbridge M, Clee J, Shailer M, Colella M (2008) Assessment of Spatial Management Practices for Enhancing Fish Populations in Bermuda. Final Report. NOAA International Coral Reef Conservation Grant:: BBP 2007-005: 167 pp. Murdoch TJT (2013) Reef Watch 2013: A citizen science initiative. Bermuda Biodiversity Project Report # 214, Bermuda Zoological Society, Flatts, Bermuda. pp 53 Murdoch TJT (2014) Bermuda Reef Watch – Methods Manual. Bermuda Zoological Society, Flatts, Bermuda. Murdoch TJT, Hammond MP, Glasspool AF, Outerbridge M, Clee J, Shailer M, Colella M (2008) A multi-scale assessment of the benthic communities of Bermuda's shallow water platform focusing on existing MPA's & control sites to enhance local management practices. Final Report. NOAA International Coral Reef Conservation Grant: BBP-2007-004: 88 pp. NOAA (2013) NOAA Coral Reef Watch - Atlantic Ocean Coral Bleaching Data Products http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/vs/atlanticocean.php#Bermuda Accessed Oct 16 2013. Perry CT, Murphy GN, Kench PS, Smithers SG, Edinger EN, Steneck RS and Mumby PJ (2013) Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth. Nature Communications. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2409 (Open Access) Sarkis S, van Beukering PJH, McKenzie E (2010) (eds) Total economic value of Bermuda’s coral reefs: valuation of ecosystem services. Technical report. Department of Conservation Services, Bermuda Government, (www.conservation.bm), 199pp Smith SR, de Putron S, Murdoch TJT, Nagelkirken I (2013) Biology and ecology of corals and fishes on the Bermuda Platform. In: Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories. Coral Reefs of the World. Springer Smith SR, Sarkis S, Murdoch TJT, Weil EA, Croaquer A, Bates N, Johnson R, de Putron S, Andersen A (2013) Threats to coral reefs of Bermuda. In: Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories. Coral Reefs of the World. Springer Steneck RS, Arnold SN, Rasher DB (2013) Status and trends for Bonaire’s reefs in 2013: Causes for optimism. University of Maine, School of Marine Scinces. link (pdf) Tunnicliffe V (1983) Caribbean staghorn coral populations: pre-Hurricane Allen conditions in Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Bulletin of Marine Sciences 33(1): 132-151 Vermeij MJA (2012) The current state of Curacao’s coral reefs. CARMABI: Caribbean Research & Management of Biodiversity Foundation; University of Amsterdam link (pdf)

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Appendix . Raw data matrices for the Reef Watch sites Table 4. The raw matrix of location, environment and fish data for all Reef Watch 2013 sites. Fish data represent counts per site. RW ID 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 13 14 15 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 31 33 34 35 40 41 44 45 46 48 51

Team BREAM Reef IDAREA (m^2) PERIMETER (m) Bermuda Grid X Bermuda Grid Y Vis GrouperSnapper Pred (G+S) Parrot Doctor Silver Herb (P,D,S) Planktivores DamselButterflyLion Suckrocks 19942 1873 284 535486 129639 15 2 28 30 36 19 4 59 71 80 5 Suckrocks 20147 1654 273 533156 129572 15 2 1 3 62 45 0 107 298 30 5 Stans' Crew 20538 1507 165 529743 131100 10 0 10 10 25 13 20 58 30 15 30 Dom Perignon 21838 1583 223 528737 132895 35 6 0 6 425 48 40 513 220 12 1 Dom Perignon 22084 1589 158 529390 135199 80 1 1 2 587 69 11 667 153 10 3 Faraway 22419 1680 211 531129 135872 100 0 4 4 31 37 2 70 77 4 2 Stans' Crew 15902 1523 184 533829 135363 20 1 0 1 17 9 7 33 10 18 4 Skin E Dippers 17388 1961 393 534491 136460 30 2 25 27 23 8 10 41 45 40 20 Skin E Dippers 16861 1935 222 535832 136095 25 3 5 8 5 5 15 25 15 50 2 Kerberos 13467 1745 424 536924 134737 20 1 0 1 0 10 1 11 4 3 5 Kerberos 11124 1514 214 539655 135926 15 0 1 1 0 8 4 12 34 6 1 Dolphin Quest 6115 1704 247 541568 138021 20 3 1 4 15 4 0 19 54 54 10 Damian - Hiscox 11467 1933 306 539610 138725 25 10 4 14 28 30 10 68 25 11 20 Faraway 17155 1814 252 536079 138049 30 0 0 0 13 20 21 54 17 20 13 Damian - Hiscox 4709 1755 205 544883 138228 25 10 4 14 28 30 10 68 25 11 20 Endurance 3385 1533 163 545922 136899 33 3 5 8 22 16 11 49 4 9 2 Endurance 3269 1925 216 546139 134610 30 5 1 6 20 19 72 111 8 11 10 Endurance 3145 1697 221 549711 135186 40 4 2 6 30 24 32 86 20 4 9 Endurance 3136 1884 181 550539 136818 10 0 10 10 25 13 20 58 30 15 30 BSAC 3002 1501 162 548772 139102 10 10 5 15 22 6 3 31 9 28 10 Dolphin Quest 2869 1935 241 545849 141728 17 2 20 22 18 34 83 135 41 66 18 Hiscox -Firefly 1356 1913 356 542856 142496 30 0 5 5 6 11 4 21 39 11 10 Burville 2010 1709 195 541349 145427 35 7 4 11 50 32 10 92 70 65 14 Burville 24091 1906 179 539543 146091 35 2 2 4 39 23 5 67 90 14 17 Hiscox - Firefly 2646 1972 191 542757 147956 0 3 1 4 8 23 1 32 36 10 6 BSAC 1450 1524 167 545067 147081 0 8 6 14 70 19 9 98 25 55 20 Granite 946 1909 175 545631 144359 20 15 6 21 32 22 3 57 93 44 13 Undertow 2983 1641 155 547843 140572 40 15 0 15 22 7 0 29 17 33 7 Endsmeet 476 1561 147 547675 142810 15 6 2 8 10 12 7 29 200 2 20 Endsmeet 732 1721 154 547528 145307 30 5 0 5 100 7 1 108 200 1 0 Undertow 25807 1788 178 552361 146801 50 10 8 18 40 10 0 50 4 40 5 Uncle Dewey 25905 1746 170 554816 146702 20 1 1 2 5 7 0 12 17 25 0 Uncle Dewey 26071 1600 159 556010 145917 17 1 1 2 6 100 1 107 8 12 0 Crikey Mate 26347 1942 175 555651 148124 10 0 0 0 4 2 15 21 28 6 0 Granite 27602 1788 185 550926 152781 100 2 2 4 61 37 4 102 120 8 10

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0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Table 5. The data matrix for benthic organisms, rugosity and large mobile invertebrates for all Reef Watch 2013 sites. All data except mobile invertebrates represents averages from 10 hula-hoop samples per site. RW ID 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 13 14 15 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 31 33 34 35 40 41 44 45 46 48 51

Team Star Coral Brain Coral Finger Coral ALL CORAL Soft Coral Sea Weed Sand Bare Rock Black Bank Yellow band Bleacking Rugosity Lobster Sea Urchin Sea Cuc Nudi Suckrocks 8.6 9.4 7 25 6 21.1 1 47.6 0 0 2 47.52 0 0 0 0 Suckrocks 8.9 20.4 0.7 30 5 22.9 11.5 29.5 0 0 0 7.44 3 0 0 0 Stans' Crew 2.5 13 22.6 38 8 28 10.5 5.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dom Perignon 8.7 23.8 7.7 40 16 17.5 0 25.5 0 0 0 47 0 0 0 0 Dom Perignon 12 26.5 2.9 41 12 20.5 0 26.0 1 0 0 49 0 0 0 0 Faraway 2.9 15.7 7.9 27 2 3.2 13.1 57.1 0 0 0 30 3 0 0 0 Stans' Crew 6.7 16 20 43 16 1.5 0.5 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Skin E Dippers 16 18.1 15.5 50 25 10.6 0 14.9 1 0 0 64 0 0 0 0 Skin E Dippers 30 12.5 9.5 52 17 6.5 11 14.0 1 4 1 21.3 0 0 9 1 Kerberos 11.2 13.5 7.5 32 6 0 7.8 54.5 0 0 6 23.52 0 0 2 0 Kerberos 17.5 10 8.5 36 14 1 9.5 40.0 0 0 4 28.32 0 0 29 0 Dolphin Quest 30 12.6 18.5 61 3 2 0 32.5 0 1 3 36.24 0 50 0 0 Damian - Hiscox 12.6 3.1 8.8 25 2 6.5 0 66.5 0 1 2 57 0 0 9 0 Faraway 10.5 4.4 6.5 21 8 27.8 1 47.2 2 2 4 35.5 0 0 0 0 Damian - Hiscox 13.9 2.9 2.2 19 2 18 0 60.0 0 0 7 55 0 0 36 0 Endurance 10.6 0.7 27.5 39 1 9.9 8 40.0 0 0 2 26 0 1 4 0 Endurance 6.5 2.2 32 41 5 31.8 7.5 15.0 0 0 3 35 0 0 8 0 Endurance 2.3 2.8 2.9 8 6 34.3 0 2.0 0 0 2.5 45 0 0 0 0 Endurance 2.5 13 22.6 38 8 28 10.5 5.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BSAC 12.5 0.5 15 28 8 3 3.5 52.0 0 1 8 26.5 0 0 14 0 Dolphin Quest 9.5 2.5 42.5 55 7 0.5 0 37.0 0 5 5 55.44 0 0 0 0 Hiscox -Firefly 10.9 10.5 9.5 31 11 2.5 0 55.6 0 0 3 50.5 0 0 3 0 Burville 10.9 11.5 3.5 26 10 5.6 0 55.5 1 0 1 42.96 0 1 0 0 Burville 7.1 13 7.1 27 10 28.1 0 28.3 0 0 2 54.7 0 0 0 0 Hiscox - Firefly 6.3 5.1 1.8 13 6 4.5 14 55.5 0 0 1 25 0 0 3 0 BSAC 16.9 6.3 24.3 48 3 6.9 0.7 22.7 0 1 9 16.2 0 0 0 0 Granite 13.5 9 12.5 35 10 17.5 0 31.0 0 0 3 32.16 0 0 0 0 Undertow 10.5 2.5 25 38 19 8 0 34.5 0 0 7 57 0 0 0 0 Endsmeet 25 16 18.5 60 12 1 4 23.9 0 1 5 0 0 1 50 0 Endsmeet 12 9 27 48 18 0 0 29.0 0 0 2 0 5 1 8 0 Undertow 10.5 8.7 9.8 29 12 11.5 0 48.0 0 0 3 28.5 0 0 20 0 Uncle Dewey 25.2 14.3 7.9 47 10 0.3 7.6 34.9 0 0 4 56.88 0 0 7 0 Uncle Dewey 22.3 13.3 6.5 42 9 0 4.5 44.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crikey Mate 7 30 24 61 8 6.5 7 18.0 0 2 2 13 0 0 1 3 Granite 3.8 25.2 8.8 38 25 7.7 8.6 0.1 1 0 5 48 0 0 0 0

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Table 6. The raw matrix of location, environment and fish data for all Reef Watch 2014 sites. Fish data represent counts per site. ID 1401 1413 1414 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1428 1432 1435 1440 1446 1452 1453 1455 1456 1459 1461 1467 1468 1470 1474 1476 1481 1484 1485 1486 1488 1491 1492 1496 1400

Team BRM_ID Dom Perignon 21874 Dom Perignon 19490 Dolphin Quest 19107 zuill 15424 Skin E Dippers 16264 Two of Us 12166 Glencoe 17153 Two of Us 12154 Skin E Dippers 14252 Porgy Protectors 17198 Plastic Tides 14740 Glencoe 13501 Porgy Protectors 11251 Firefly 2020 Kelly Winfield 6208 Reef Rummer 6133 Hx Ashley Dupree 2661 Reef Rummer 1225 Reefspect 24453 Hx Ashley Dupree 2899 Kerberos 4775 Firefoly 3787 Kerberos 3100 Reefspect 24569 Ren Re 423 Endurance 377 Endurance 277 Ren Re 24759 Uncle Dewey 25817 Crikey Mate 25870 Crikey Mate 25064 Uncle Dewey 25997 DolphinQuest

AREA 1074 1049 1072 1227 1629 1103 1215 1350 1154 1151 1161 1302 1220 1095 1663 1787 1228 1556 1987 1190 1273 1123 1610 1335 1575 1209 1743 1636 1491 1218 1859 1493

PERIMETER Bermuda Grid X Bermuda Grid Y 141 528854.034 133650.5409 155 532394.7661 130148.3669 125 532396.1981 130852.1541 130 534966.58 130227.933 156 535246.6288 135835.8322 131 535902.5806 133709.1462 145 535943.5345 137993.8141 136 535990.4859 134255.7804 134 536140.364 135356.3425 161 536852.8854 139738.8979 151 537132.5685 134464.6962 153 538222.6433 134719.0738 159 539541.579 136255.2999 129 541083.0489 145357.5222 150 541178.8063 137756.164 160 542240.9523 137842.031 131 542472.0797 148445.5349 144 543058.1058 143171.5837 166 543577.8043 150355.9123 154 544901.4421 142220.191 169 544946.5805 137968.5621 161 545440.6307 140497.4157 151 546525.1027 138325.7592 145 546835.4199 148553.8704 160 548160.82 142318.0858 156 549716.0698 142302.7441 160 549855.9749 140679.1311 146 549860.4929 149730.5748 147 551854.6698 147216.0936 169 553564.8051 147572.7905 158 553700.0953 149394.8713 147 555708.0795 146969.7758

45

Area Grouper Snapper Predators (G+S) Parrot Doctor Silver Herb (P,D,S) Planktivores Damsel Butterfly Lion West 0 4 4 66 50 4 120 60 15 8 0 West 3 6 9 40 15 8 63 50 100 13 0 West 0 0 0 16 4 0 20 93 47 0 0 West 0 0 0 15 17 15 47 123 50 2 0 West 0 0 0 4 11 1 16 17 7 3 0 Central 2 2 2 17 1 20 15 31 3 0 Central 5 5 10 23 30 9 62 40 40 10 0 Central 2 0 2 13 12 6 31 7 18 12 0 Central 1 5 6 13 0 21 34 27 10 2 0 Central 0 1 1 17 4 10 31 20 3 2 0 Central 2 1 3 3 7 3 13 16 8 6 0 Central 0 2 2 2 52 26 80 177 130 27 0 Central 0 4 4 14 12 12 38 42 35 5 0 North 0 0 0 26 10 5 41 53 18 15 0 North 0 56 56 19 18 53 90 22 33 5 0 North 0 8 8 30 15 60 105 55 90 22 0 North 1 11 12 26 15 0 41 26 0 10 0 North 3 4 7 16 8 40 64 33 7 3 0 North 5 1 6 43 23 0 66 67 8 0 0 North 0 0 0 18 9 0 27 12 3 7 0 North 1 3 4 0 5 6 11 20 6 8 0 North 0 0 0 10 8 100 118 11 25 2 0 North 0 4 4 1 3 4 8 100 14 5 0 North 0 32 32 57 55 42 154 126 116 33 0 North 0 0 0 20 3 40 63 23 30 2 0 North 0 0 0 7 7 0 14 89 15 0 0 North 1 1 2 21 2 11 34 22 46 10 0 East 0 0 0 18 0 18 45 20 0 0 East 3 0 3 17 19 9 45 24 33 22 0 East 3 8 11 22 13 5 40 30 22 6 0 East 0 4 4 16 12 10 38 23 32 4 0 East 2 2 4 5 3 0 8 7 0 3 0 Central 0 9 9 5 9 4 18 16 5 3 0

www.bermudabream.org

Table 7. The data matrix for benthic organisms, rugosity and large mobile invertebrates for all Reef Watch 2014 sites. All data except mobile invertebrates represents averages from 10 hula-hoop samples per site. ID 1401 1413 1414 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1428 1432 1435 1440 1446 1452 1453 1455 1456 1459 1461 1467 1468 1470 1474 1476 1481 1484 1485 1486 1488 1491 1492 1496 1400

Team BRM_ID Dom Perignon Dom Perignon Dolphin Quest zuill Skin E Dippers Two of Us Glencoe Two of Us Skin E Dippers Porgy Protectors Plastic Tides Glencoe Porgy Protectors Firefly Kelly Winfield Reef Rummer Hx Ashley Dupree Reef Rummer Reefspect Hx Ashley Dupree Kerberos Firefoly Kerberos Reefspect Ren Re Endurance Endurance Ren Re Uncle Dewey Crikey Mate Crikey Mate Uncle Dewey DolphinQuest

Star Coral 21874 19490 19107 15424 16264 12166 17153 12154 14252 17198 14740 13501 11251 2020 6208 6133 2661 1225 24453 2899 4775 3787 3100 24569 423 377 277 24759 25817 25870 25064 25997

10.00 10.50 18.50 17.00 6.00 13.30 1.00 10.70 13.50 11.50 2.00 24.40 19.00 6.20 23.00 13.90 6.50 7.20 5.70 12.00 22.00 25.80 35.00 11.00 14.20 25.50 25.50 9.50 11.50 13.00 14.30 4.20 19.00

Brain Coral Finger Coral ALL CORAL Soft Coral Sea Weed Sand Bare Rock Black Band Yellow band Bleacking Rugosity Lobster Sea Urchin Sea Cuc Nudi SLI 24.50 7.80 42.30 7.00 4.50 0.00 44.20 1.00 0.00 0.00 46.56 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.50 10.00 6.00 26.50 10.00 15.00 0.00 48.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 67.68 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 19.00 22.20 59.70 17.00 16.80 6.00 7.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 28.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 29.44 11.20 54.70 8.70 24.00 9.50 5.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 7.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.25 11.70 17.30 35.00 9.50 4.00 0.00 51.50 0.00 1.00 2.00 75.00 0.00 0.00 24.00 1.00 2.00 8.70 11.00 33.00 8.50 0.00 1.50 56.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 19.10 0.00 0.00 12.00 1.00 2.25 26.00 7.50 34.50 15.00 0.50 0.00 51.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 26.80 0.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 2.75 9.80 15.50 36.00 14.00 0.00 0.00 52.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 39.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.25 16.00 11.50 41.00 9.50 0.00 10.50 39.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 121.00 0.00 1.00 25.00 0.00 2.25 11.50 13.00 36.00 35.00 6.50 1.00 20.50 0.00 0.00 1.00 70.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 0.00 2.25 20.00 11.25 13.50 7.00 0.60 0.50 72.25 1.00 1.00 1.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.75 14.00 3.10 41.50 2.60 35.90 0.00 20.10 0.00 0.00 1.00 19.50 1.00 0.00 21.00 0.00 2.25 16.00 2.20 37.20 12.10 39.00 0.00 12.70 0.00 1.00 1.00 57.40 0.00 0.00 80.00 0.00 2.00 6.70 2.70 15.60 2.75 2.15 5.00 75.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 28.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 2.25 27.00 3.00 53.00 8.50 7.50 0.00 28.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 32.20 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 11.50 7.40 32.80 5.00 0.20 0.00 63.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.20 1.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 2.50 18.50 12.50 37.50 31.00 4.50 0.00 26.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.75 10.80 18.20 36.20 4.50 21.50 0.00 39.60 0.00 1.00 0.00 64.40 0.00 0.00 49.00 0.00 2.25 34.30 4.80 44.80 3.80 11.60 1.00 32.30 0.00 0.00 3.00 48.48 0.00 1.00 11.00 0.00 2.50 5.00 24.50 41.50 10.50 1.00 0.00 47.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.25 20.00 10.00 52.00 11.00 20.50 6.50 10.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 1.70 2.00 0.00 8.00 1.00 1.75 1.20 24.60 51.60 1.40 2.20 0.00 44.80 0.00 0.00 0.00 34.50 0.00 0.00 38.00 0.00 2.50 1.00 17.50 53.50 4.00 5.00 0.00 38.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.95 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 18.50 3.00 32.50 7.00 10.00 0.50 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 21.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.50 19.20 33.90 7.10 13.20 5.90 34.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 43.20 1.00 0.00 25.00 0.00 2.50 16.20 12.00 53.70 1.70 0.00 3.50 36.50 0.00 0.00 2.00 21.00 0.00 0.00 130.00 0.00 2.00 10.50 5.80 41.80 7.40 1.50 7.50 43.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 39.00 0.00 2.00 71.00 0.00 2.25 11.00 4.00 24.50 18.00 6.00 0.56 43.50 0.00 0.00 1.00 33.84 0.00 1.00 14.00 0.00 1.75 2.20 15.90 29.60 6.20 4.20 5.90 54.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 50.10 0.00 0.00 8.00 0.00 2.50 22.00 18.50 53.50 15.50 0.00 0.00 37.50 3.00 3.00 6.00 16.50 0.00 3.00 7.00 0.00 2.75 13.80 7.70 35.80 10.90 13.10 19.70 21.00 2.00 1.00 7.00 31.20 0.00 5.00 8.00 0.00 2.25 37.40 13.00 54.60 14.40 4.90 4.50 21.30 1.00 0.00 7.00 13.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 7.00 37.00 31.50 7.00 7.00 0.00 24.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 38.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00

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Citation: Murdoch TJT (2014) Reef Watch 2014: A citizen science initiative in its second year. Bermuda Biodiversity Project Report # 224, Bermuda Zoological Society, Flatts, Bermuda. pp 57.

Contact: Thaddeus Murdoch, Ph.D. Chief Scientist Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Analysis and Monitoring (B.R.E.A.M.) Programme Bermuda Zoological Society, P.O. Box FL415, Flatts, FL-BX, BERMUDA http://www.bermudabream.org Tel: +441.293 2727 x2144; Cell: +441.505.8424 [email protected]

48

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