In March of 2012, scientists on the Global Reef Expedition set out to assess the community structure, health, and resilience of corals and coral reef fish on Pedro Bank in Jamaica. This scientific report summarizes our findings from that mission. This report has been shared with government officials, local stakeholders, and conservation organizations to help them preserve and protect coral reefs in Jamaica—and led to the creation of a marine protected area in Pedro Bank.
The research summarized in this report is part of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation's Global Reef Expedition, a large-scale scientific research mission which nearly circumnavigated the globe studying the health and resiliency of some of the most remote coral reefs on Earth. The primary goals of the expedition were to map and characterize coral reef ecosystems, identify their current status and major threats, and examine factors that enhance their ability to survive—and recover from—major disturbance events.
