Differences in benthic cover inside and outside marine protected areas on the Great Barrier Reef: Influence of protection or disturbance history?

Published source details Myers M.R. & Ambrose R.F. (2009) Differences in benthic cover inside and outside marine protected areas on the Great Barrier Reef: Influence of protection or disturbance history?. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 19, 736-747.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Designate a Marine Protected Area and prohibit some fishing and collection (including where restrictions are unspecified) Action Link

Designate a Marine Protected Area and prohibit some fishing and collection (including where restrictions are unspecified)

A replicated, paired, site comparison study in 1992–2002 of 15 pairs of coral reef sites in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia (Myers & Ambrose 2009) found that in protected areas that prohibited some fishing and collection (a range of different restrictions), hard coral cover was similar but soft coral cover lower than in unprotected areas. When pooling data across all reefs, hard coral cover was similar in protected (39%) and unprotected reefs (31%), but soft coral cover was lower (protected: 12%, unprotected: 19%). For undisturbed reefs, hard coral cover was higher in protected reefs (46%) than in unprotected (25%), and soft coral cover was lower (protected: 18%, unprotected: 36%), but there were no overall differences for disturbed reefs (hard: 34–36%, soft: 8–10%). Annual increases in hard coral cover were higher in protected than in unprotected areas in two of five comparisons at undisturbed reefs, but at disturbed reefs neither protected or unprotected areas consistently had higher increases in cover. For soft corals, there was very little change in cover in protected and unprotected areas over time on both undisturbed and disturbed reefs (see paper for details). Fifteen pairs of sites, one protected and one unprotected, were selected across 23 reefs. The protected sites included three levels of protection: no fishing, collecting or diving; no fishing or collecting, but diving permitted; or no trawling or collection, limited line fishing, other fishing and diving permitted. Disturbances included cyclones, storms and crown-of-thorns Acanthaster planci invasions. Annual surveys in 1992–2002 were conducted at each site, with three survey locations selected per site, and five transects (50 m) surveyed/location.

(Summarised by: William Morgan)