Final Report Final report on coral reef surveys in Torres Strait Hugh Sweatman, Kerryn A. Johns, Michelle J. Jonker, Ian R. Miller and K. Osborne Final report on coral reef surveys in Torres Strait Hugh Sweatman, Kerryn A. Johns, Michelle J. Jonker, Ian R. Miller and K. Osborne Australian Institute of Marine Science Supported by the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program Project 2.3 Monitoring the health of Torres Strait coral reefs © Australian Institute of Marine Science National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: 978-1-925088-64-9 This report should be cited as: Sweatman, H. P. A., Johns, K. A., Jonker, M. J., Miller, I. R., and Osborne, K. (2015) Final report on coral reef surveys in Torres Strait. Report to the National Environmental Research Program. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (46 pp.). Published by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre on behalf of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program (NERP) Tropical Ecosystems (TE) Hub. The Tropical Ecosystems Hub is part of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program. The NERP TE Hub is administered in North Queensland by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited (RRRC). The NERP Tropical Ecosystems Hub addresses issues of concern for the management, conservation and sustainable use of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and its catchments, tropical rainforests including the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA), and the terrestrial and marine assets underpinning resilient communities in the Torres Strait, through the generation and transfer of world-class research and shared knowledge. This publication is copyright. The Copyright Act 1968 permits fair dealing for study, research, information or educational purposes subject to inclusion of a sufficient acknowledgement of the source. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment. While reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. Cover photographs: Ray Berkelmans This report is available for download from the NERP Tropical Ecosystems Hub website: http://www.nerptropical.edu.au/research January 2015 Torres Strait Coral Reef Surveys Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ ii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. iii Acronyms Used In This Report ................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... v Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Manta tow ............................................................................................................................. 3 Reef Health Impact Surveys (RHIS) .......................................................................................... 4 Coral cover (photo transects) ................................................................................................. 5 Biodiversity surveys ................................................................................................................ 5 Biodiversity of hard corals ................................................................................................... 5 Biodiversity of reef fishes .................................................................................................... 6 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Biodiversity ......................................................................................................................... 6 Hard coral biodiversity ........................................................................................................ 6 Fish biodiversity ................................................................................................................ 10 Manta tow ....................................................................................................................... 10 RHIS ................................................................................................................................. 11 Central islands (Kulkalgal) .................................................................................................... 12 Aureed Island Reef ............................................................................................................... 12 Aukane Island Reef .............................................................................................................. 15 Kabbikane Island Reef .......................................................................................................... 16 Masig (Yorke Island) ............................................................................................................. 17 Poruma (Coconut Island). ..................................................................................................... 20 Eastern Islands (Meriam Mir nation) ..................................................................................... 22 Erub ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Mer (Murray Island) .............................................................................................................. 24 Waier Island and Dauar Island Reef ...................................................................................... 27 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 29 The status of reefs in Torres Strait ..................................................................................... 29 Capacity Building ............................................................................................................. 29 Biodiversity of hard corals ................................................................................................. 30 Biodiversity of reef fishes .................................................................................................. 30 References ............................................................................................................................... 31 Appendix 1 – Coral species ...................................................................................................... 33 Appendix 2 - Fish species ......................................................................................................... 39 i Sweatman et al. 2015 List of Figures Figure 1. Location of reefs in the Torres Strait region surveyed by AIMS and TSRA, through NERP Tropical Ecosystems Project 2.3. The Torres Strait region is bounded by Papua New Guinea in the north and Australia in the south. It is the area where the Coral Sea. Solid blue line: Australian exclusive economic zone. Dashed dark blue line: Australia- Papua New Guinea Protected Zone. Red solid line: GRBMP, Source: E-Atlas 2014. ..... 1 Figure 2. Manta tow training. The boat driver checks the snorkelers are ready to start manta towing. Here there are two observers in the water, for manta tow training. The manta boards are connected in a line and the each snorkeler holds onto the manta board. ....................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 3. A manta tow observer records the data on underwater datasheets. ............................. 4 Figure 4. TRSA LSMU staff taking part in RHIS training. .............................................................. 4 Figure 5. A diver searches for new coral species. ........................................................................ 5 Figure 6. Reefs where biodiversity surveys were completed in 2013. .......................................... 6 Figure 7. Taxonomist Dr Paul Muir shows Kevin Lui and Laura Pearson some of the corals collected. .................................................................................................................. 7 Figure 8. Reefs where manta tow surveys were made in 2013 and 2014. ................................ 10 Figure 9. Reefs where RHIS were complete in 2013 and 2014 by TSRA LSMU staff. ................. 11 Figure 10.. Satellite image of Aureed Island Reef. The white line indicates the tow path taken. Breaks in the line indicate different sections of the reef, with tow numbers for reference. Symbols: Green triangles indicate RHIS sites, Red squares indicate sites of 2013 Biodiversity surveys of fish and corals in 2013. Yellow squares indicate sites of Biodiversity surveys of corals in 2014. ...................................................................... 12 Figure 11. Percent cover of coral