Conservation of Coral Reefs after the 1998 Global Bleaching Event

Large-scale coral bleaching has happened in the Pacific and Indian and the Caribbean since 1982. Previously it was observed only a small scale (Williams and Bunkley- 1990;Jokiel & Coles 1990; 1988, 1991; Goreau et al. 1993; & Hayes 1994, 1995). The 1998 bleaching event was globally the extensive such event recorded in the Caribbean and Central where a comparison of year-byyear and bleaching maps that it was comparable with the previous events (T.G. et al., unpublished ). Global analyses of bleaching are rare, but critical to understanding of the widespread effect of bleaching events.