Study Sites

Eight reef areas were surveyed between March 2017 and August 2018. These can be divided into two groups, those on the island reefs located in the Palk Bay and those along the northern coast of the Palk Strait (Figure 1). Within these eight reef areas, ten actual sites were surveyed: the Delft reef front (Del), the Karainagar reef front (Knr), the Kayts outer reef slope (Kt1), the Kayts outer reef flat (Kt2), the Pungudutivu outer reef slope (Pu1), the Pungudutivu outer reef flat (Pu2), and the reef fronts at Point Pedro (Munai or Ptm), Inbarsitty (Inb), Thondaimanaru (Tho), and Valithoondal (Val) (Figure 1). These were either shallow, outer reef flat sites at 1 to 3 m depth, or reef front sites at 3 to 6 m depth. Visual inspections of the reef flats on the north coast revealed that all but the most protected sites

supported very low, mostly nil, live coral cover; similarly, inner reef flats and reef lagoons at the island sites were mostly composed of seagrass beds and broken coral rubbles. Given this, quantitative surveys were not carried out at these locations. In addition, the Delft, which is located in Palk Bay, is known as the island of dead corals, most pieces of which are believed to be of Miocene origin. In contrast, the islands of Pungudutivu and Kayts are well-known locally to have well-developed coral reefs extending to a depth of about 6 m.
