Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) of coral diversity and the status of coral reefs in the Raja Ampat Islands, Papua Province, eastern Indonesia

Coral reefs at 51 locations in the Raja Ampat Islands, Papua Province, Indonesia were surveyed in October/November 2002. At 43 of the locations, sites were surveyed at two depths (deep: >10m and shallow: A complete inventory of coral species was compiled for each site. At the end of each survey, the inventory was reviewed and each taxon was categorized in terms of its relative abundance in the community. For each coral taxon present, a visual estimate of the total amount of injury present on colonies at each site was made in increments of 0.1, where 0 = no injury and 1 = all colonies dead. In addition, for each species a damage score was attributed and the population, sorted in three size classes - up to 10cm, 10 to 50cm and greater than 50cm colony diameter. When identification of coral species was not possible, notes and photographs were taken and, if necessary, samples were collected. Some coral samples were taken to Australia to compare with reference collections in the Museum of Tropical Queensland and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.The same type of data was recorded for soft corals, zoanthids, sponges, macro-algae and other sessile macro-benthos.Site characteristics were also recorded in a semi-quantitative manner and include depth range, slope, bottom cover of the major benthic groups, physical structure, reef development level, exposure rating and visibility. This research was undertaken to complement and complete existing data on marine biodiversity and ecosystem condition. The inventory of scleractinian coral species was used to compare biodiversity in the Raja Ampat Islands with other reef systems in the region.