Hawaiʻi Reef Restoration Monitoring Guide
This monitoring guide presents standardized methods to assess coral reef restoration in Hawaiʻi, combining universal metrics, BACI experimental design and flexible tools. It enables practitioners to track progress, compare outcomes and improve restoration effectiveness across diverse reef environments.
Subject Tags
- Reefs
- Climate resilience
Abstract
This Hawaiʻi Reef Restoration Monitoring Guide provides a standardized framework for evaluating coral reef restoration projects across the Hawaiian Islands. Developed by NOAA and partners, it outlines practical monitoring approaches, including the use of universal metrics and the Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design to assess restoration effectiveness. The guide emphasizes the importance of consistent data collection to track coral growth, survival, and ecosystem changes, enabling comparisons across sites and over time. It integrates both in situ and advanced photogrammetry methods, allowing flexibility for projects with varying resources while maintaining comparability. By supporting adaptive management, the framework helps practitioners identify challenges, improve restoration outcomes, and enhance reef resilience. This guide addresses the need for standardized monitoring in Hawaiʻi, where coral reefs face significant threats from climate change, local stressors and declining coral cover, and aims to support long-term reef recovery and conservation.
TNC Authors
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F. Joseph Pollock
Sr. Reef Strategy Lead. Hawaii
The Nature Conservancy
Email: Joseph.pollock@tnc.org -
Eric Conklin
Director of Marine Science. Hawaii
The Nature Conservancy
Email: econklin@tnc.org -
Ryan Carr
Marine Monitoring Manager
The Nature Conservancy
Email: rcarr@tnc.org