After the Tsunami Harnessing Australian Expertise for Recovery

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After the Tsunami Harnessing Australian
Expertise for Recovery

• Tony Haymet
• Chief, CSIRO Marine Research
• 31 March, 2005

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Maldives and Seychelles missions
Maldives
Seychelles
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Submarine topography of the Maldives Archipelago

• Most mountainous region on earth

Staff from CSIRO, AIMS, GBRMPA, AusAid led by
John Gunn http//www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pd
f/maldives_reef_report.pdf Poster outside
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The Maldives
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Coral reef surveys
At most sites both Manta (surface) and dive (10m)
surveys were conducted Atolls visited Baa, Raa,
South Male, Vaavu, Meemu, Laamu, Thaa Low coral
cover as a result of 1998 bleaching (98 of
coral died) Regrowth 512 live cover Very
little live coral damage from tsunami - rubble
slides - siltation - breakage Siltation cause
for concern for existing regrowth and new
recruitment
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Manta (surface) surveys and Dive surveys (10 m)

• before

after
To evaluate whole-of-reef impacts, dive based
assessments were conducted on the following
habitats on both eastern and western sides of 7
atolls seaward edge channels leeward edge
5 replicates each
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Baitfish populations

• Extensive surveys of reef and lagoon fishers
  revealed that there was no cause for concern for
  baitfish, tuna or reef fish fisheries

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Reef and island geomorphology

• Minimal damage to island structure and soil
  structure
• Building damage largely the result of poor
  construction

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Maldives Mission Summary

• Successfully met all rapid assessment
  objectives
• Worked successfully with Maldivian Marine
  Research Centre in setting designs and protocols
  for follow-up work
• Very positive feedback from all levels of
  Maldivian government, and from AusAID
• Excellent Team Australia deployment (CSIRO,
  AIMS, JCU and GBRMPA) complimentary
  skills/experience
• Recommendations with Australian and Maldives
  Governments http//www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/
  pdf/maldives_reef_report.pdf

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Maldives Tsunami Issues for discussion

• UN Role in co-ordination, NGOs
• Role of science in assisting governments
  people must be driven by needs
• Early warning/risk assessment versus
  reconstruction.
• Improved environmental management as a
  reconstruction objective Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
  Maldives, etc.

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Warning system Moorings, Argo floats, XBT lines,
surface drifters, tide gauges
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28 March Nias Island 8.7 Earthquake
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Nias
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Proposed mooring array for climate research and
prediction

• Need to optimise mooring locations and
  instrumentation packages for multi-purpose
  environmental warnings (e.g. tsunami, storm
  surge, climate).

One approach is to use ocean models in Observing
System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs).
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BlueLink Ocean forecasting Australia

• Ocean Weather maps providing forecasts and
  information on the open and coastal ocean up to
  7-28 days in advance
• Future capability to predict wave propagation
• http//www.marine.csiro.au/bluelink/

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Observing System DesignTropical Indian Ocean
mooring array

• Result from a series of OSSEs
• Figure of meritpredicted daily depth of the
  thermocline
• Root-mean-squared error (RMSE) using only
  array-data
• The configuration of the optimal array is not
  obvious
• The model allows combining data from different
  sources

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In progress Seychelles tsunami relief effort

• Australian government assistance to the
  Seychelles tsunami relief effort coral reef and
  fisheries
• CSIRO, GBRMPA, AIMS (funded primarily by AusAID)
  in cooperation with the UNEP
• Tim Skewes CSIRO

Priorities 1. Building an overall reef
monitoring strategy 2. Coral Reef damage
mitigation rehabilitation 3. Assessing impacts
to near-shore fisheries
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• Tony, the next few slides are additional
  Seychelles ones from Tim Skewes. John and I
  constructed a sum up slide (previous slide)
  which probably covers the ground. However, Ive
  left in the others if you want more detail.
• Louise

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• CSIRO is coordinating a mission, with AIMS and
  GBRMPA, to the Seychelles to assist with the
  tsunami relief effort. The mission will focus on
  coral reefs.
• Coral reefs are very important to the Seychelles.
  It is the focus of a large tourism industry and
  supports locally important artisanal fisheries.
  They also buffer to the coast from wave damage.
• While the tsunami damage in the Seychelles was
  relatively moderate (3 dead, US30M damage),
  initial damage assessments by the UNEP and
  Seychelles research agencies indicate
  considerable localised damage to coral reefs and
  potential damage to near-shore fisheries.
• Priorities identified by the UNEP and Seychelles
  Government agencies are
• 1. Building an overall reef monitoring strategy
• 2. Coral Reef damage mitigation and
  rehabilitation
• 3. Assessing impacts to near-shore fisheries
• Staff from CSIRO, AIMS and GBRMPA are currently
  formulating a project to address these priorities.

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Building a coral reef monitoring strategy

• There is a clear need for determining long term
  trends in coral reef status for conservation
  planning.
• There is already considerable research effort on
  coral reefs by government agencies and NGOs but
  it is fragmented. Developing a system within
  which the diverse number of NGOs can conduct
  complimentary monitoring surveys would be a major
  improvement to the coral reef monitoring capacity
  in the Seychelles.
• This project will
• i/ Design efficient and targeted surveys that
  would be suitable for long term monitoring.
• ii/ Develop a nationally coordinated long term
  coral reef monitoring program.

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Coral reef damage mitigation and rehabilitation

• The December tsunami is just the latest of a
  series of impacts on the coral reefs of the
  Seychelles, including a large coral bleaching
  event in 1998, fishing and tourism impacts and
  coastal processes.
• This activity is focused on strategies for
  protecting and rehabilitating coral reefs,
  particularly protecting or increasing the cover
  and diversity of live coral.
• Activities under this projects could include
• Substrate stabilization pilot projects
• Assessing and mitigating impacts from the
  coastal zone (e.g. runoff)
• Managing fishing impacts and tourist/general use
  impacts.
• Enhancing the natural recruitment/survival of
  coral recruits

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Assess impacts to the nearshore and shallow reef
fisheries

• Inshore fisheries are an important source of
  income for the Seychelles people. The per capita
  consumption of fish in Seychelles is one of the
  highest in the world and the artisanal fisheries
  contribute significantly to the protein
  requirements of the country.
• CSIRO have recently been involved in an FAO
  funded project to assess the status of the
  beche-de-mer fishery in the Seychelles.
• This project will assess the impact of the
  tsunami on two important sectors of the inshore
  fishery
• i/ The shallow (mostly reef associated) benthic
  communities, including beche-de-mer.
• ii/ The inshore finfish fisheries, which includes
  the artisanal trap fishery.