Marine National Park Headquarters completed this year’s Coral Annual Health Checkup in Dongsha Atoll National Park and South Penghu Marine National Park. The coral growth in both national parks is steady. Dongsha Atoll National Park’s coverage (59%) and South Penghu Marine National Park’s (64.8%) are both higher than 50%, which is the healthy coral reef standard. However, the number of biological indicators is still low, showing that the coral reefs are still under certain environmental pressure.
The Damage and Recovery of Dongsha’s Coral
The coral coverage in each monitoring stations is as follows: 29.4% in East platform reef; 74.4% in West platform reef; 67.5% in North platform reef; 80.6% in South platform reef; 43.3% in Atoll lagoons. According to results in recent years, coral coverage dropped drastically due to typhoons. The coverage in North platform reef during 2016 and 2017 had dropped from 89% to 61.3%. Also, the coverage in East platform reef during 2017 and 2018 had dropped from 76.4% to below 40%. Corals in the atoll lagoons are sheltered by reef flats, which mitigate the wave power. Therefore, typhoons have less impact on atoll reefs. The results have also recorded changes in North platform reef and East platform reef after typhoons. The coral species at the two stations are very different. Soft corals are the main species in North platform reef, which recover faster than stony corals in East platform reef. Different coral’s restoration after damage can also be recorded.