Subject: Bleaching in LAKSHADWEEP, INDIA
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 19:10:48 +0500

Just to add to the recent catalogue of post-bleaching misery ... we 
recently conducted a rapid survey at Kadmat Island in Lakshadweep, 
India using ReefCheck methods. An outer-atoll seaward reef slope 
was chosen for its luxuriant coral cover in previous years. From verbal 
reports and extent of dead coral now, pre-bleaching live coral cover 
was probably in excess of 80-90% in places. Results of the survey 
confirmed heavy mortality along lines reported elsewhere in the Indian 
Ocean. At 3m depth, only 3% live coral cover was recorded, with 87% 
dead branching and table forms. At 10m, live coral cover was 7%, with 
43% cover by dead branching and table forms, and a further 38% rocky 
substrate, much of which appeared to be recently scoured massive coral 
forms, though impossible to be certain. Not all reefs in Lakshadweep 
appear to have suffered quite so severely, but these results seem to some 
extent representative. Further info. available from Dr Syed Ismail Koya, 
Dept of Science, Technology & Environment, Lakshadweep 
<[email-masked]> and GCRMN South Asia regional office. 
Full results also submitted to ReefCheck.

Jason Rubens
Regional Co-ordinator
Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)
South Asia Region
IOC-UNESCO/ UNEP/ IUCN
48 Vajira Road
Colombo 5
Sri Lanka