The survey was conducted over 120 days and included 3888 tows. There are some 3000 reefs making up the GBR, but the LTMP provides a representative survey across the entire length and breadth of the reef. A total of 87 reefs were surveyed from August 2021 to May 2022 (reported as ‘2022’). Methodical surveying year after year builds up a picture of if coral is growing, receding, or bleaching and coverage is divided into percentage categories. They record the percentage of hard coral cover, soft coral cover, bleached corals, Crown of Thorns starfish and important predators like Coral Trout and sharks. This annual summary is based on manta tow surveys of coral reefs, where divers are literally towed behind boats over 200-meter sections of the reef, for two minutes at a time. With reef surveys extending over 36 years, the AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) provides a record of change by repeatedly surveying coral reef communities over a large area of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced four bleaching events since 2016, but the AIMS report found that coral mortality was low during the last one. The recovery is encouraging news as Acropora are also the genus most susceptible to bleaching in previous events. The coral genus most responsible for the increase was Acropora. In the Southern region, monitoring found that coral coverage decreased slightly, but that was due to other pressures affecting coral, like Crown of Thorns starfish outbreaks.

The greatest coverage increases were reported in the North and Central regions of the GBR, which is in direct contrast as they have also been the regions worst affected by coral bleaching via rising sea temperatures in recent years. The Australian Institute of Marine Science has reported a 36-year coral coverage high across the Great Barrier Reef for 2021/22.

Marine aquarium lights