Camp Island

Camp Island is dominated by macroalgae with levels consistently above 30%. Hard coral cover, while largely unaffected by TC Debbie, was severely impacted by a mass bleaching event in 2020 decreasing hard coral by 54% from October 2019 to June 2021. The bleaching event (2020) reduced macroalgae and led to a significant loss of hard corals (2019 to 2021). Hard coral cover has started to significantly increase as of May 2022 since the 2020 bleaching event.

The major regional scale bleaching event in early 2020 led to significant bleaching of Holbourne Island hard corals communities but to a lesser extent than at Camp Island; likely in part due to the slightly deeper sites at this location. Following the same trends as Camp Island, Holbourne corals also have an increased pattern of sediment found on corals, some predation and disease but with little measurable damage as a result.