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Palau’s coral reefs found to have high coral cover
  • [2020]
  • The USA Today Network published a story in the Pacific Daily News about the high coral cover we found in Palau on the Global Reef Expedition.

Guam Pacific Daily News
USA Today Network
October 24, 2020

A green sea turtle swims over the coral reef. Green sea turtles are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is protected from exploitation in most countries.

 

Researchers discovered Palau’s reefs have among the highest amount of live coral across ecosystems worldwide, according to the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.  

Over the course of five years, researchers circumnavigated the globe, collecting baseline data on coral reefs. In 2015, the Global Reef Expedition, a research mission that assesses the health and resiliency of coral reefs around the world, came to Palau.

An international team of scientists and local experts spent a month surveying coral reefs  across the country. They conducted over 1,800 standardized surveys of the benthic and fish communities on coral reefs in Palau, according to a news release.

Robust reefs

The average live coral cover recorded in Palau was over 45% and reached up to 70% in some marine protected areas.

See article here

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