US BASKETBALL may boast of the occasional "Dream Team", but the aquatic species whose continued existence depends on the health of Bermuda's reef system can count on the BREAM team.

Not only is the Bermuda bream very common, it also happens to be one of Bermuda's few endemic fish. For that reason, it seemed a fitting acronym for a new initiative that is focusing attention on Bermuda's unique coral reef ecosystem.

The Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping (BREAM) project was launched this summer as part of the ongoing Bermuda Biodiversity Project (BBP).

Based at the Department of Conservation headquarters in Flatts, the BREAM initiative, in keeping with the underlying philosophy of the BBP, is a collaborative venture. Under the overall direction of a Bermudian scientist, doctoral student Thad Murdoch, BBP team members Mark Outerbridge and Dr. Annie Glasspool have joined with the Department of Conservation Services staff members Sarah Manuel and Anson Nash, and with local fish expert and Bermuda REEF programme co-ordinator Judie Clee, to form the core BREAM team.

In the spirit of scientific collaboration, invitations to participate have been extended to all interested local and overseas scientists.

Mr. Murdoch said the BREAM project was launched to develop a better understanding of the sub-surface area that constitutes Bermuda's entire reef system.

"So far, we have been from the far western side of the whole reef platform, from Chub Cut, about seven miles west of Somerset, across to the eastern rim."

Bermuda Biodiversity Project Leader Dr. Glasspool wrote that "Bermuda's reef system is particularly significant in that it is the most northerly in the world. Over the past couple of decades, there has been a dramatic decline in the health of reef systems globally.

"Estimates indicate that about 27 per cent of the world's coral reefs have been degraded beyond recovery and a further 16 per cent are under serious threat. Whilst coral reefs throughout the rest of the Caribbean have suffered dramatic declines in the amount of living coral, Bermuda is one of the few remaining locations with relatively healthy reefs.

"For this reason Bermuda's shallow water marine habitats are not only important locally, but also regionally, serving both as an important barometer of global reef health, and as Thad explains, as an 'ark' or life raft where reef plants and animals may survive until the rest of the Caribbean recovers."

Mr. Murdoch explained that the BREAM project encompassed the marine part of the BBP, which is researching all aspects of Bermuda's flora and fauna.

"The biodiversity project looks at the organisms that live on both the land and the sea, and one of the critical parts of the project was the production of an aerial photographic mosaic, all of which is geo-referenced in a computer with GIS (Geographic Information Software).

"Before I became involved, the project team had already conducted surveys at over 1,000 sites on the land, but the ocean is more challenging.

"They started to look at the marine environment in 1999, when I had just started in graduate school, and beginning in 2000, I came back in summers to survey the reefs for my PhD. I heard what they were doing, and thought that my survey techniques could complement theirs, and I was more than willing to add my data to their data.

"So in 2002, I moved back to Bermuda full time, and was hired in 2003 to do the actual physical mapping of all of the reefs, and patch reefs, in Bermuda."

Mr. Murdoch, who graduated with a BSc in Biology and a BA in Psychology (Neuroendocrinology) from Dalhousie in Canada, is a student in the doctoral programme in marine sciences at the University of South Alabama at Mobile, and at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

"I needed a part-time job to help me survive, so I began mapping, drawing polygons round every patch reef on the aerial mosaic, but I was also doing some work in the US, as a consultant on the monitoring project at Flower Gardens Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

"But over the course of the last couple of years, I have done all of the patch reefs, some 35,000 of them. The outer reef is one giant reef, all connected, but there are probably 20,000 or 30,000 sand holes that run all through it, and it would be beneficial to have those mapped.

"It's all to guide science, so that people will know exactly where they are, and the characteristics of the environment around them."

Dr. Glasspool wrote that the BREAM project was launched with specific objectives: "To support multidisciplinary studies of Bermuda's coral reef complex in order to eliminate information gaps; to properly document and orchestrate data collection, management and sharing in order to promote improved local, regional and international understanding of coral reef systems; to integrate the resource managers, the scientific community and the users in the management processes to define common goals and to recognise the significant pressures and conflicts that are placed upon our marine environment; and to promote a range of public awareness programmes, with the goal of promoting care of our unique coral reef ecosystem.

"Despite a long history of scientific research, there hasn't been an accurate and detailed map of Bermuda's reef complex and the distribution of animals and plants across it. The map that Thad has been producing is an essential step in developing a baseline of the current status of our reef system with which future trends can be compared.

"This is arguably one of the most detailed maps of any reef system anywhere, and Thad's local knowledge of Bermuda's reefs is a tremendous resource which we are able to incorporate into the product.

"Historically, scientists have focused their attention on a relatively narrow belt of the reef extending out across the north shore, which provided easy access. The west and eastern ends of Bermuda have received little scientific attention, and these are now being surveyed by the team."

To illustrate the significance of this broad approach, Dr. Glasspool explained that Mr. Murdoch recently observed a previously unreported species in Bermuda, a type of nudibranch or sea slug that was grazing very heavily on Bermuda's sea fans, and killing them.

"Its distribution is quite patchy, however, and we could easily have missed it if we were just focusing our surveys at specific sites," she explained. "Now we have been able to map it in order to monitor its impact.

"We can't prevent it, and the fact that it's localised means that it probably won't have a major impact on the overall population of sea fans but, hopefully, as we collate information, we may have a better understanding of what triggered the outbreak."

Dr. Glasspool continued: "Through BREAM, we are adopting a multi-tiered approach, so that the ultimate aims of assessing community health and producing a digitised map of Bermuda's marine habitats that details species composition and the health status of each habitat type will be achieved at different levels of resolution over time.

"Initially, a broad brush-stroke approach has the team combining analysis of the 1:30,000 aerial photographic image of the Bermuda Platform, with visual inspections or 'ground-truthing' out in the field, to categorise and delineate habitat types. This is nearing completion."

The second level of research, which in many locations the team is tackling concurrently in order to make most efficient use of resources, uses the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol, and 40 sites have been already been surveyed.

"AGRRA allows for a rapid, large scale assessment of Bermuda's coral habitats," Dr. Glasspool said, "and a similar rapid assessment method has been designed for sea-grasses. By adopting the AGRRA programme, which is co-ordinated through the University of Miami and used throughout the Caribbean, we will be able to compare the health of Bermuda's reefs with reefs further south.

"A variety of different biological characteristics are measured at the survey sites, which give an indication of their health. Each indicator is being mapped onto its own layer on our GIS map."

As a result of these efforts, scientists and resource managers are already able to start viewing these layers in relation with one another, which is enabling analysis of some of the complex relationships and patterns between species and habitats, and will enable potentially sensitive areas, or areas of particular biological significance, to be identified.

"This is an incredible tool which will help everyone studying and managing the marine environment by allowing much better organisation of the data and more sophisticated analysis," advised Dr. Glasspool.

"Once analysed, this data will enable scientists to focus on areas of particular interest or concern, and at a third level, to establish more rigorous sampling protocols."

The goals of the BBP and the BREAM project go far beyond local concerns; the scientists believe that the capacity for the development and implementation of policies, management, research, education, and monitoring of coral reefs and associated environments both locally and globally, will be dramatically strengthened.