Key Research for Management
The following areas of research have been identified as priority areas for Kayankerni Marine Sanctuary to support adaptive, knowledge based management interventions:
- Annual, long term monitoring of coral reefs, seagrass habitats and fish communities
- Impacts of coral bleaching and coral disease
- Patterns in coral larval recruitment
- Oceanographic research on temperature fluctuations and circulation patterns
- Long term water quality monitoring
- Stock assessment of target reef fish species
- Information on fishing effort and fishing grounds
Ongoing Research and Monitoring
- Annual monitoring of coral cover, substrate composition and selected reef fish groups.
- Annual monitoring of seagrass cover and species composition.
- Documenting coral recruitment patterns.
- Recording species composition and fishing effort of small scale fisheries.
- Catch composition and species inventory of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays).
Past Research
- GIS based mapping of coral reefs within Kayankerni Marine Sanctuary
- Rapid habitat assessments.