Everyone can submit reports on coral health of Mesoamerican Barrier Reef

From a post on NOAA's coral listserve by George Stoyle (MSc), Head of Coral Research & BleachWatch Regional Coordinator, Utila Centre for Marine Ecology, Bay Islands, Honduras:

A new Website has been launched to encourage individuals, tourism operators, organisations and fishermen to submit regular reports of coral reef health throughout the Mesoamerican region. The primary aim of the site is to provide information and education regarding bleaching events, detect early stages of coral bleaching events over a wide geographic range, and to use coral bleaching as a means to communicate the broader impacts of climate change on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

As well as providing general information regarding coral reef ecology the website also allows simple data entry via an online reporting system. This will form the basis for an early warning system to allow researchers to locate areas where reefs are experiencing changes, make in-depth analyses, locate resistant areas, and document recovery or mortality.

Reef users throughout Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras are strongly encouraged to submit regular reports, even if they do not see bleaching, so we can begin to build up an overview of bleaching events throughout the region.

The website address is http://www.marcoralwatch.net.