Scientists have conducted the most extensive survey yet of the world's coral reefs, that included 6,000 surveys across 46 countries where results revealed that there are 15 "bright spots" that are indicating extremely damaged reefs that are still teeming with multitudes of fish, that can be a crucial finding in coral reef conservation solutions.

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According to the lead author of the study, Josh Cinner of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in James Cook University, Queensland in Australia, the team was absolutely thrilled to find out that given that there is widespread coral reef damage, fish are still abundant in these bright spots.

Cinner explains that these bright spots are filled with fish that is prior to what is expected, due to environmental factors like human activities, poverty and habitat loss, which is why the team of scientists wanted to know how these reefs were able to come back, and to also learn valuable lessons to avoid degradation of reefs that is mainly caused by overfishing.

According to Maria Beger from the UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, the discovery of these bright spots is the first step in the integration of conservation, where long term success will depend on how human communities and coral reefs co-exist. Global conservation efforts help protect regions with low threats, maintaining high ecological integrity.

On the other hand, some 35 "dark spots" were also identified during this extensive survey where fish populations were in worse conditions than expected, as these spots are more distributed in every ocean basin in the world.

The bright spots are located in the Pacific ocean near Kiribati in Papua New Guinea, parts of Indonesia and Solomon Islands. This new study is published in journal Nature.

Tagscoral reefs, coral reefs bright spots, coral reef conservation, world's coral reefs