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> Public Reporting Program provides early warning of coral bleaching

> Stressful conditions prevailed during February and into early March throughout large areas of the Reef. The first signs of coral bleaching were reported to GBRMPA via our ?A href="http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/bleaching/final_report
> /public_reporting_program.html">Online Public Reporting Program? We established this program to tap into the vast network of experienced tourism operators, dive guides, reef scientists and marine park rangers who regularly visit the Reef.

> The specially developed bleaching reporting website received over 100 reports, providing an important early warning system of coral bleaching over the expanse of the Marine Park. By mid-March, reports of bleaching spanned most of the length of the GBR (see map), from Princess Charlotte Bay north of Cooktown to Heron Island near the southern extent of the GBRMP.

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> The online bleaching reporting program allowed reef users to report observations of coral bleaching

> The online bleaching report form contains a questionnaire that allowed reef visitors to record observations of the amount of bleaching in different types of corals at the sites they visited. The observer notes the total coral cover and how much of the coral is bleached, based on pre-set percentage categories. The online form has an automated search field to enable observers to accurately record the reef name and reef number to ensure accurate location of site reports on GBR maps. Data from the form were automatically compiled into a database, which was used to generate regularly updated maps showing the results of the public reporting program.

> Results from the online bleaching reports

> Information gathered from over 100 reports during the 2002 bleaching period provided an early indication that bleaching was widespread over the GBR. The number of submissions varied across different sections of the GBRMP, with the Central Section recording the most and the far northern section the fewest reports (see graph). This pattern is likely to reflect the varying levels of visitation in the different sections of the Marine Park.

> The results from the public submissions provided both an important early warning system for coral bleaching as well as a valuable guide to help the GBRMPA direct survey effort during the underwater surveys.

> The GBRMPA would like to thank all of the people who submitted bleaching reports and thus contributed to our bleaching response program in 2002.

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