Monday 13 April 2009

Health of the Great Astrolabe Reef, Kadavu, Fiji

Health of the Great Astrolabe Reef

Dates:
31st May - 7th June 2005

Reef type:
The Great Astrolabe Reef (GAR) consists of two barrier reefs and a lagoon structure with several islands - including Ono Island - inside the lagoon. Kadavu is the biggest island in the area, with a fringing reef surrounding it.

There are fringing reefs around all the islands and patchy reef bommies close by. The eastern windward barrier reef breaks up at just a few passages to the open sea. The western leeward barrier reef is broken up more by passages, channels and stretches of bommie complexes.

Only one nautical mile north of the GAR lies the smaller “North Astrolabe Reef” (NAR). It is an atoll of 4 nautical miles diameter.

Vitareef data was collected inside the lagoon on coral bommies next to the fringing reef on the north west side of Ono as well as on the outside of the western barrier reef at a bommie complex system (Alacrity Rocks). We also ran transects at this outside study site. Observational dives were made at different locations all around the Great Astrolabe Reef including the eastern (windward) side.
Read full report here Great Astrolabe Reef, Kadavu, Fiji

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