Monitoring Program Report Ras Mohammed National Park 2005
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Monitoring Program report Ras Mohammed National Park 2005 A joint publication by; Baseline Conservation Value Index assessment of Ras Mohammed National Park July- September 2005 Coral Reef Research Unit (Room 2.12A) University of Essex (UK) Department of Biological Sciences Wivenhoe Park Colchester Essex, CO4 3SQ UK http://www.crru.org http://www.essex.ac.uk E-mail: [email protected] Edited by Dr. David J. Smith & Steve M cMellor 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………..…..5 LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………….….6 LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………7 LIST OF TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………..8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……………………………………………..…..9 Coral diversity and cover ..................................................................................9 Fish diversity & abundance...............................................................................10 CVI Classifications............................................................................................11 Threats.......................................................................................................... …12 SWOT analysis………………………………………………………………..12 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….13 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................15 Project background ...........................................................................................15 Area description.................................................................................................16 Description of sites surveyed……………………………………………….....18 References……………………………………………………………………..20 CHAPTER 2. CORAL DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION...........................21 Summary ........................................................................................................... 21 Introduction........................................................................................................ 21 Methods...............................................................................................................23 Results................................................................................................................ 25 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 30 References.......................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 3. FISH DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE...................................35 Summary .......................................................................................................... 35 Introduction....................................................................................................... 35 Methods............................................................................................................. 36 Results............................................................................................................... 38 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 47 References..........................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 4. CONSERVATION VALUE INDEX CLASSIFICATIONS……52 Summary………………………………………………………………………52 Introduction……………………………………………………………………52 Methods……………………………………………………………………….55 Results………………………………………………………………………...57 3 Discussion……………………………………………………………………..58 References……………………………………………………………………..60 CHAPTER 5. THREATS TO THE REEF ENVIRONMENT IN RAS MOHAMMED – SOME OBSERVATIONS ............................................................................62 Summary……………………………………………………………………….62 Introduction........................................................................................................62 Methods..............................................................................................................64 Results................................................................................................................64 Discussion .........................................................................................................66 References..........................................................................................................68 CHAPTER 6. RAS MOHAMMED CONSERVATION SWOT ANALYSIS.....69 Conservation strengths & opportunities.............................................................69 Conservation weaknesses & threats...................................................................69 APPENDICES .....................................................................................................71 I. Coral Genera surveyed in Ras Mohammed……………..………………….71 II. Fish species surveyed in Ras Mohammed………………………..……..72 III.CVI metric scores for Ras Mohammed……………................................74 4 Acknowledgements This study was carried out in the Ras Mohammed National Park, South Sinai, Egypt from July through September 2005 as a part of the agreement between the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and Operation Wallacea to establish and implement a long term monitoring program for the coral reefs and associated communities within the national park. The contribution of EEAA staff was vital to the running of this project and the input of Essam Saadalla of the EEAA was much appreciated. Thanks to Osama al-Gpely for assistance in access to areas of the park and for the use of facilities at the EEAA research centre in Ras Mohammed. Special thanks to the EEAA park rangers whom assisted with logistics, especially Ahmed Yacout and Mohammed Salla. Many thanks to Sabah and Salim for attentive safety boat cover for all diving activities. Operation Wallacea provided staff and diving equipment as well as funding the entire project effort. The input of the Operations Manager, (Mr) Ben Farrar was also essential to the success of this project. Operation Wallacea are also recognised for providing travel funds for Steve McMellor. The University of Essex Poulter studentship award is recognised for funding the research of Steve McMellor at the CRRU. Finally we would like to acknowledge the efforts of all the volunteers who worked with us on the project and made the expedition atmosphere so positive. Cover photo: Reef Crest at Yolanda Beach (S.M cMellor) 5 List of tables Page Table 1: Benthic survey categories……………………………………………..24 Table 2: Coral growth form categories…………………………………………24 Table 3: Scleractinian coral cover at the four study sites………………………25 Table 4: One-way ANOVA of fish assessment measures between sites……….38 Table 5: Mean (±s.e.) fish abundance with minimum and maximum………….39 Table 6: CVI benthic and fish values with final CVI codes……………………58 6 List of figures Figure 1. Map of Ras Mohammed National Park (EEAA)…………………….17 Figure 2. Mean(±s.e.) hard (hermatypic) coral cover………………………….26 Figure 3. Variation in mean(±s.e.) live benthic cover between sites…………..27 Figure 4. Breakdown of benthic cover by category……………………………28 Figure 5. Mean(±s.e.) hard coral Generic richness…………………………….28 Figure 6. Mean (±s.e.) hard coral colony size……………………………….…29 Figure 7. Mean(±s.e.) number of hard coral colonies at each site……..………29 Figure 8. Negative association between hard coral recovery since COTs outbreak and number of divers visiting each site ……………………………….30 Figure 9. Mean(±s.e.) fish species richness at each site……………………….39 Figure 10. Total mean (± s.e.) fish abundance at each study site………………40 Figure 11. Relationship between the various fish diversity measures………....42 Figure 12. Negative correlation between fish abundance and fish community diversity…………………………………………………………………42 Figure 13. PCA plot of fish assessment metrics………………………………..43 Figure 14. Dendrogram of cluster analysis of fish assessment metrics…………44. Figure 15. MDS plot of fish summary metrics overlaid with Pielou’s equitability measure………………………………………………………………….44 Figure 16. Functional redundancy of main fish Families ………………………45 Figure 17. Trophic structure of the fish communities…………………………..46 Figure 18. Satellite image of Ras Mohammed National Park (Landsat MCRA).57 Figure 19. Drupella spp. Gastropods feeding on Acropora spp.(S.M cMellor)...65 Figure 20. Examples of extensive littering at the Marsa Ghozlani site................66 7 List of terms and abbreviations ALG – Algal cover COREMAP – Coral Reef Management and Protection Program CR – Coral Rubble Cover CRRU – Coral Reef Research Unit, University of Essex CVI – Conservation Value Index EEAA – Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency GEF – Global Environment Facility of the World Bank HCC – Hard (Scleractinian) Coral Cover LC – Total Live cover LIT – Line Intercept Transect NCS – Nature Conservation Sector PERSGA - Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden SC- Soft Coral Cover (Alcyonacea) SST – Sea Surface Temperature TNC – The Nature Conservancy WWF – World Wildlife Fund 8 Executive Summary This report reflects the data collected as part of the establishment of a long term coral reef monitoring program set up by Operation Wallacea, Coral Reef Research Unit, University of Essex(UK) and the EEAA. Survey work was carried out by Steve M cMellor (CRRU) and was supported by Operation Wallacea volunteers and EEAA park rangers. All study sites were surveyed using belt and LIT methodologies, with three replicate 50m transects carried out at each of three depths, (reef crest and upper and lower reef slopes) at each site. Separate surveys