By Cooper Stevenson
Published Jul 1, 2014 at 8:00 am

A Black Grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) at Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo. Photo Mark Tatem.

Anecdotal reports on the numbers of predatory reef fish following the weekend’s Reef Watch survey are “not good”, according to Bermuda Zoological Society chief scientist Thad Murdoch.

While Dr Murdoch and the Reef Watch teams still have to analyse the data collected over the weekend, he said a lack of predatory fish on the reefs was not a good sign for predatory fish populations, which play a key role in keeping other fish species in-check.

“Certainly this year and last year people saw much fewer predatory fish than one would expect, based on what a healthy reef should have,” said Dr Murdoch.

“We still have to process this year’s data, but people were mentioning how they hadn’t seen one snapper or one grouper on a whole reef. That’s not good. People should be seeing 40 or 50 snappers and grouper on a reef.”

Around 20 boats carrying volunteer “citizen scientists” this weekend ventured out onto Bermuda’s reefs as part of the annual survey, raising more than $24,000.

Reef Watch — a community environmental monitoring and fundraising project run by Bermuda Zoological Society — aims to advance local knowledge on the health and abundance of critical species of fish and coral in Bermuda.

“What we’re doing is getting people to learn how to identify what a healthy reef looks like and we teach them what types of fish should be on a reef and what kind of abundances they should be seeing, so when they go out to a reef they can tell whether the reef is really healthy or if its not in good shape,” said Dr Murdoch.

However, Dr Murdoch said that reports on reef health were positive. “It sounded like coral health was good. Last year [Reef Watch] was right after a very hot summer, so coral bleaching was a threat and people did actually see it. This year, because it’s the beginning of summer, we didn’t expect people to see bleaching and from what I heard, I don’t think people did.”

In addition to collecting critical data on reef health and fish populations, participants also raised $24,573 in funds for the ongoing protection and conservation of Bermuda’s coral reefs, more than $3,000 compared to Reef Watch 2013.