Drafting (Nov 1, 2025…)
Zones on the Vauxhall Reef, after Lewis (1960)
Click on mages for larger versions
My annual visits to the reefs of the Folkestone MPA 2015 to 2025 (excluding 2021 an 2022 when I did not visit) occurred over 1 to 3 month periods within the months January to April, thus any observations I make on the state of the reefs are essentially snapshots taken in the winter months. My focus has been on Vauxhall Reef (Reef # 34 in Maclean & Oxenford, 2016).
Vauxhall Reef: Its Remarkably Healthy State 2015 to 2020
Over the 6 years 2015 to 2020, I marvelled at
Colony of Acropora prolifera at the inner Reef Crest zone of Vauxhall Reef exposed on a very low tide on April 21, 2015. Snorkelling Boats in the background, anchored near ‘The Wreck”
– the overall healthy state of the Vauxhall Reef from the Reef Flat to the Deep Water Communities;
– the high living coral cover and fish diversity on the Seaward Slope;
– the vigorous growth of the hybrid acroporoid, Acropora prolifera at the inner Reef Crest.
And I noted the significant economic benefits accruing from the visits of snorkelling boats to The Wreck and the adjacent outer fringing reef.
I did not visit in 2021 and 2022. When I first arrived in 2023, I immediately looked for occurrence SCTLD (Stony Tissue Loss Disease) which I had been on the lookout for* but did not find in 2020.
*re Post: Stony coral tissue loss disease heading towards Antilles 9Jul2019
Corals on landward corner of The Wreck on Jan 11, 2023
“On January 11, 2023, conditions were perfect for snorkelling at the Vauxhall Reef* and I looked out for SCTLD-infected corals on a route approx. perpendicular from shore that took me across the Reef Flat, Diploria-Palythoa, Reef Crest, Seaward Slope and Reef Front zones (Lewis 1960), to ‘The Wreck”. I saw only one obviously infected coral, that in the outer Reef Crest zone, until I reached The Wreck where there were many, and at least some of them appeared to fit the description for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease.” (See Presumptive SCTLD on Vauxhall Reef & Environs in 2023)
It appears the earliest reports of presumptive SCTLD were in late Nov 2022. I watched and documented development o presumptive SCTLD corals, mostly at Vauxhall Reef, over the period Jan-Apr 2023 submitting 26 reports to AGGRA.
Continuing…