Macroalgal removal, coral transplantation and monitoring was conducted at Manning Reef and Seal Rocks Reef as a part of a two-year restoration trial. The restoration locations were selected on the basis that poor reef condition has persisted since major flooding events, though noting that the effectiveness of reef restoration in inshore turbid waters was not previously well documented. Here we present a summary of the first twelve months of restoration works and monitoring data, whereby monitoring examined the following at 36 sites: changes in benthic cover, coral recruit density, coral health, coral transplant survivorship, macroalgal biomass, reef fish communities.
Twelve-month coral transplant survivorship has remained high at 91.8% and 88.5% respectively. Coral transplants also appeared to have higher growth rates at Manning Reef compared to Seal Rocks Reef, whereby Acropora cover at Manning Reef has doubled in 12 months. The effects of macroalgal removal differed between locations, noting that the dominant algae species also differed between locations. At Manning Reef, the removal of Aparagopsis resulted in a return to a high algae cover by the next monitoring event. At Seal Rocks Reef the removal of Sargassum was much longer lasting in terms of a persistent reduction in algae cover.