Costa Mar launches first full coral census in thirty years

The Costa Mar Regional Assembly voted on Thursday to fund a two-year coral census covering roughly 340 kilometres of reef systems along the region's coastline. The project, administered by the Regional Marine Institute in Puerto Azul, will deploy autonomous underwater survey drones alongside teams of trained reef divers.

The last systematic reef survey was conducted in 1996, before the Republic's founding, under a bilateral programme that no longer exists. Since then, reef coverage data has relied on patchwork studies and voluntary diver reports submitted to the federal Biodiversity Registry in Meridiano.

Institute director Camila Orozco said the gap in baseline data has hampered every conservation decision the region has made for three decades. Without current maps, she noted, it is impossible to measure whether protection policies are working or failing.

Fieldwork is scheduled to begin in late November, after the rainy season eases. The first interim report is expected within twelve months. What the survey finds about bleaching patterns and reef recovery rates is likely to shape coastal policy well beyond Costa Mar's borders ??? and the federal implications are already drawing attention in Meridiano.