Coral reefs are renowned for their beauty and biodiversity which rivals that of tropical rainforests. Coral reefs are found in northern KwaZulu-Natal where they contribute significantly to the dive tourism industry (approx. 60 000 dives pa) and support the local economy in an economically impoverished area of KZN, providing hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.

Monitoring of these reefs has largely been limited to a single site, and therefore there is no knowledge on the true status of our local coral reefs situated along 120 km of KZN coastline. The new phase of the ORI Coral Reef Monitoring Project will expand the monitoring to an additional 10 sites extending along the entire coral reef system to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how reefs may be being affected by local and climate change pressures.

The project is in collaboration with the Ford Wildlife Foundation, South African National Biodiversity Institute, iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. The project aims to use the empirical data from the monitoring of coral communities and temperatures, as input to predictive models that can be coupled with climate change models in order to forecast the likely effects of climate change on local reefs and when it will present. This will assist in climate change mitigation planning. It may also identify potential areas of thermal refuge with the wider array of temperature recorders being deployed as well an any areas experiencing local pressures.

Underwater temperature recorders have been installed at these sites to relate temperatures potentially influenced by global warming to any changes in the coral communities. The monitoring sites have been subsequently surveyed and will continue to be surveyed annually while temperatures are logged hourly. It is envisaged that a further five sites will be added to the array of sites already in commission, thereby providing a comprehensive understanding of the health status and potential climate change impacts to our local coral reefs.

Unfortunately, coral reefs are particularly sensitive to localised pressures as well as global climate change, especially warming. However, because of this, they essentially act as the proverbial ‘canary in the coalmine’, providing an early warning sign for a host of pressures on the coastal environment. This means it is crucial to monitor them, to detect any changes over time, as they are a key indicator of the health of the coastal environment and thus an important component to informing both coastal and biodiversity management of localised pressures and climate change management.