=========================  Bleaching Report  ===========================


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********* Bleaching Report from Heron Island, GBR, Australia ***********
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Report from:  Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
              Centre for Marine Studies
              University of Queensland
              Australia

Date:         20 March 2002


"The amount of bleaching has increased during the past few weeks 
- perhaps due to the "maturing" of previous damage and/or added 
insult from low tides in the middle of the day.  The final analysis 
indicates something like 60-70% of corals in the intertidal being
completely bleached with mortality running at around 20%.  Off the 
reef crest - most sites are bleached to about 20-30% down to 10 m.  
Bleaching is noticeably greater closer to Gladstone (seen from the 
air as your fly by Heli to Gladstone)."

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Alan E. Strong
NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Project
NOAA/NESDIS

20 March 2002