Coral Reefs in Honduras: Status after Hurricane Mitch

Investigation of coral reef damage from Mitch involved: 1) assessing the amount of coral breakage and displacement that occurred as high waves and strong currents impacted the reef and 2) identifying the effects of increased coastal sedimentation and nutrient-enrichment, which resulted from flooding after Mitch moved onshore. Monitoring and evaluating the damage to the reefs from Hurricane Mitch involved installing instruments around Cayos Cochinos (Figure 2) and Roatán, as well as photo documentation of coral disease, algae abundance, physical damage to corals, and overall reef health. Very little coral reef data exist for Cayos (e.g., Guzmán, 1998), so the data presented here are considered to be the first to be collected throughout the region.

Two instruments recording water salinity, temperature, and light intensity were installed on a shallow (-17 ft) reef at Cayos and Roatán. In addition, three sites throughout Cayos (Lions Head, Pelican Point and a shallow reef near the field station; red dots on Figure 2) were selected to house instruments measuring temperature only. These temperature loggers were placed on the reef in 17 ft and 66 ft water depths to measure upwelling events that might occur as a result of meteorologic or oceanographic changes and to measure extreme sea-surface temperatures on a shallow reef (-3 ft).