In April 2011, scientists on the Global Reef Expedition set out to map and assess coral reefs and other shallow water marine ecosystems at Cay Sal Bank in The Bahamas—the first of 15 countries visited on the expedition. This scientific report summarizes our findings from that mission. It has been shared with government officials, scientists, conservation organizations, and local stakeholders to help preserve and protect coral reefs in The Bahamas.
This research summarized in this report was conducted as part of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation's Global Reef Expedition, a large-scale scientific research mission which nearly circumnavigated the globe studying the health and resiliency of some of the most remote coral reefs on Earth. The primary goals of the expedition were to map and characterize coral reef ecosystems, identify their current status and major threats, and examine factors that enhance their ability to survive—and recover from—major disturbance events.
