Coral Reef Diagnostics

Bonaire - Weber's Joy

Reef Check Foundation
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Part of the regional summary: Bonaire

More about this place: Bonaire on Wikipedia

05
Coral Health Index: TBD
Photo: Anderson Mayfield/Coral Reef Diagnostics
Country
Bonaire
Survey date(s)
2017-02-24
Coordinates
12.2066, -68.3165
Position from the published dive-site listing for Weber's Joy; no GPS fix was logged on the dive.
Coral cover
21%
Claude computer vision (39 edited photos) · other methods below · median 15%
Observations
None tagged; see Stressors below
Heat stress
Most recent heat load record
28.8°C2.1°C-weeks
26 Oct 2026 · Bleaching Warning
5-year thermal stress load
5-year mean max. degree heating weeks (DHW)
17.3°C-weeksi
2021–2025
NOAA Coral Reef Watch — Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire virtual station
i 5-year mean max. DHW is the mean of the annual maximum DHWs over the five complete years named above, not conditions today.
More infoAruba, Curacao, and Bonaire (NOAA CRW virtual station)
Photographs
46
43 shown on this page
Site summary
Read this summary in:

A steep wall of plate-coral terraces with big brain and massive coral heads among sea rods, orange cup corals, dense fish schools, spotted morays, and a French angelfish. Most corals are pigmented, but some large brain corals carry old patches of tissue loss, giving the reef a mixed rather than pristine condition.

Max. depth dived
31.1 m
Water temp. during survey
26.9°Cii
-1.0°C vs the 2017 mean sea temperature (27.9°C)
ii From 1 logged dive at this site.
Bottom time
53 min
in at 16:57

Fifteen independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.

Four other CRD dive sites with their own pages within 5 km shown in orange — click a marker to open its page.

7 of the 43 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.

12367891011121315171819202122232425262829303132333435363839404143

Photo credit & attribution

Site description

Setting

A steep drop-off wall with terraces of plate coral and large brain and massive coral heads interspersed among sea rod gorgonians, plus clusters of orange cup coral (e.g., Image 16).

16Image 16

General benthic features

Weber's Joy has a steep plate-coral-dense wall and an adjacent mixed slope with massive, lobate, and brain corals, octocorals, sponges, and sand pockets (e.g., Image 4, Image 5).

4Image 45Image 5

Coral cover

Stressors

No widespread bleaching event is visible. Most plating and massive colonies are pigmented, although localized old scars and partial mortality occur. One frame shows several old, encrusted tissue-loss patches on a large brain coral, without a clear fresh white disease margin. The photographs support a mixed-condition interpretation rather than a uniformly intact or uniformly degraded reef.

Fish and other fauna

Spotted moray eels peered from crevices, a French angelfish worked the reef, and bearded fireworms and a small shrimp were tucked into the rock (e.g., Image 14, Image 27, Image 37, Image 42).

14Image 1427Image 2737Image 3742Image 42

Dense fish schools are a recurring feature. The set also includes close views of moray eels, fireworms, and other reef-associated fauna.

Comparisons with other data

Loh et al. (2015) and de Bakker et al. (2019) surveyed this site (Weber's Joy), 0.06 km from the pin. Within 5 km, fifteen independent stations recorded station-year means of 20–60% hard coral cover between 1982 and 2017; the nearest of these, XL Catlin Seaview Survey at transect 17037, 0.97 km away, read 20% in 2013.

CV model comparison

Mean 21%, median 15% across 39 photos.
More infoA few colony-focused photos raise the mean; the median is the typical photo. No computer-vision method yet estimates coral cover accurately on new images, so treat this as indicative rather than a measurement; it is revised as the methods improve.
Headline: Claude computer vision, a blind point count of this site's own photographs.
More infoOther rows are for comparison only and are never averaged. No diver transect exists for these photos, so agreement between rows is not accuracy.
MethodHard coral cover (%)Photos (n) ± SE
CoralSCOP edited25.2n = 46 · SE 2.6
Claude (edited photos)20.6n = 39 · SE 4.0

CoralSCOP (edited photos) reads 25.2%, within 4.6 pp of Claude's blind point count (20.6%).

See a more detailed, stand-alone version of this table.

Independent surveys nearby

Data availability near this site
Agency / programYear(s)Stations / distanceLink
Handschuh (pers. comm.) 1997, via Stokes et al. 201019971 station, 4.56 kmRecords ↓
Kobluk & Lysenko 198419821 station, 4.56 kmRecords ↓
Kramer & Bischof 200319991 station, 4.17 kmRecords ↓
Reef Check2000–20031 station, 4.89 kmRecords ↓
Steneck et al. (2019)2004–20174 stations, 2.57–4.99 kmRecords ↓
Stokes et al. 201020085 stations, 4.17–4.56 kmRecords ↓
XL Catlin Seaview Survey20132 stations, 0.97–4.10 kmRecords ↓
Hard coral cover over time — this site and every independent station within 5 km. Programs are shown separately because they use different methods at different stations; the lines are not one comparable series.
0%15%30%45%60%198219992017Kobluk & Lysenko 1984 1982: 40%Handschuh (pers. comm.) 1997, via Stokes et al. 2010 1997: 32%Kramer & Bischof 2003 1999: 44%Reef Check 2000: 34%Reef Check 2001: 24%Reef Check 2002: 26%Reef Check 2003: 28%Steneck et al. (2019) 2004: 38%Steneck et al. (2019) 2004: 46%Steneck et al. (2019) 2004: 46%Steneck et al. (2019) 2005: 40%Steneck et al. (2019) 2005: 41%Steneck et al. (2019) 2005: 47%Steneck et al. (2019) 2007: 43%Steneck et al. (2019) 2007: 44%Steneck et al. (2019) 2007: 45%Steneck et al. (2019) 2009: 45%Steneck et al. (2019) 2009: 47%Steneck et al. (2019) 2009: 49%Steneck et al. (2019) 2011: 36%Steneck et al. (2019) 2011: 37%Steneck et al. (2019) 2011: 38%Steneck et al. (2019) 2011: 39%Steneck et al. (2019) 2013: 30%Steneck et al. (2019) 2013: 34%Steneck et al. (2019) 2013: 40%Steneck et al. (2019) 2013: 49%Steneck et al. (2019) 2015: 30%Steneck et al. (2019) 2015: 39%Steneck et al. (2019) 2015: 41%Steneck et al. (2019) 2015: 47%Steneck et al. (2019) 2017: 38%Steneck et al. (2019) 2017: 47%Steneck et al. (2019) 2017: 48%Steneck et al. (2019) 2017: 60%Stokes et al. 2010 2008: 27%Stokes et al. 2010 2008: 31%Stokes et al. 2010 2008: 36%Stokes et al. 2010 2008: 36%Stokes et al. 2010 2008: 42%XL Catlin Seaview Survey 2013: 20%XL Catlin Seaview Survey 2013: 25%Coral Reef Diagnostics 2017: 21%Year-averaged across all programs: illustrative only; the programs differ in stations and method, so no trend is claimed (16 years)
Kobluk & Lysenko 1984 Handschuh (pers. comm.) 1997, via Stokes et al. 2010 Kramer & Bischof 2003 Reef Check Steneck et al. (2019) Stokes et al. 2010 XL Catlin Seaview Survey Coral Reef DiagnosticsYear-average (illustrative only, programs differ)

Within 5 km, 15 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 145 records between 1982 and 2017. Of the 5 stations surveyed in more than one year, 2 declined (by 6.0–8.0 points), 2 increased (by 10–14 points), and 1 changed by less than 1 point between their first and latest surveys. Three stations share the longest span (2004–2017); one, Barcadera (Steneck et al. 2019, 2.57 km away), went from 46% in 2004 (mean of 8 records) to 38% in 2017 (mean of 4 records). The most recent nearby survey is from 2017, so these values predate recent heat stress. This site's own estimate (21%) sits 1 point above the one survey station up to 2 km away (20%), inside the 7-point method-noise floor (inconclusive); the methods differ, so the comparison is context, not a like-for-like test.

Collected by other programs using different methods (Reef Check uses point-intercept transects; the XL Catlin Seaview Survey uses photo-transects with automated image annotation), so these are context for the figures above, not a like-for-like comparison. Where a station was surveyed more than once, the cell shows either the range of its values or, as a single value, the mean of surveys made in one year. Station names are not dive-site names.

Show all 145 independent survey records
Independent survey data near this site
AgencySite / locationDateHard coral cover (%)DistanceLink
Kobluk & Lysenko 1984Cliff (Aquahabitat photomosaic station) [19 m]198240%4.56 km—
Handschuh (pers. comm.) 1997, via Stokes et al. 2010Cliff [7.6 m]199732%4.56 km—
Kramer & Bischof 2003Karpata [10 m]199944%4.17 km—
Reef CheckKarpata Reserve2000–200324–34% (range of yearly means; 8 surveys)4.89 km—
Steneck et al. (2019)Barcadera2004–201730–49% (range of yearly means; 40 records)2.57 kmdoi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00265
Steneck et al. (2019)Karpata2004–201739–60% (range of yearly means; 32 records)3.93 kmdoi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00265
Steneck et al. (2019)Reef Scientifico2004–201736–49% (range of yearly means; 35 records)4.99 kmdoi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00265
Stokes et al. 2010Karpata (Bonaire Marine Park mooring) [2008 - 5 m]200836%4.17 kmdoi:10.5479/si.00775630.582.1
Stokes et al. 2010Karpata (Bonaire Marine Park mooring) [2008 - 10 m]200842%4.17 kmdoi:10.5479/si.00775630.582.1
Stokes et al. 2010Karpata (Bonaire Marine Park mooring) [2008 - 15 m]200831%4.17 kmdoi:10.5479/si.00775630.582.1
Stokes et al. 2010Cliff [2008 - 10 m]200827%4.56 kmdoi:10.5479/si.00775630.582.1
Stokes et al. 2010Cliff [2008 - 20 m]200836%4.56 kmdoi:10.5479/si.00775630.582.1
Steneck et al. (2019)Oilslick leap2009–201730–47% (range of yearly means; 20 records)2.57 kmdoi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00265
XL Catlin Seaview Surveytransect 17037201320%0.97 kmdoi:10.14264/uql.2019.930
XL Catlin Seaview Surveytransect 17039201325%4.10 kmdoi:10.14264/uql.2019.930

Data & links

All images from Coral Reef Diagnostics. Data are from Coral Reef Diagnostics and the organizations named in the data sources above.

© Coral Reef Diagnostics.

References

  1. Kobluk DR, Lysenko MA (1984). Carbonate rocks and coral reefs, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Geological Association of Canada, Field Trip 13 guidebook, Toronto. 67 pp.
  2. Stokes MD, Leichter JJ, Genovese SJ (2010). Long-term declines in coral cover at Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Atoll Research Bulletin 582:1-21. DOI
  3. Kramer P, Bischof BG (2003). AGRRA Data. Assessment Tables for Abaco, Bahamas (Fishes), Lighthouse Belize(Corals, Algae, Fishes) and Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles (Corals, Algae, Fishes). Atoll Research Bulletin 496:590-597. DOI
  4. Steneck RS, Arnold SN, Boenish R, de León R, Mumby PJ, Rasher DB, et al. (2019). Managing Recovery Resilience in Coral Reefs Against Climate-Induced Bleaching and Hurricanes: A 15 Year Case Study From Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean. Frontiers in Marine Science 6:265. PDF
  5. Loh TL, McMurray SE, Henkel TP, Vicente J, Pawlik JR (2015). Indirect effects of overfishing on Caribbean reefs: sponges overgrow reef-building corals. PeerJ 3:e901. DOI
  6. de Bakker DM, van Duyl FC, Perry CT, Meesters EH (2019). Extreme spatial heterogeneity in carbonate accretion potential on a Caribbean fringing reef linked to local human disturbance gradients. Global Change Biology 25:4092-4104. DOI
  7. Gonzalez-Rivero M, et al. (2019). Seaview Survey photo-quadrat and image classification dataset. The University of Queensland (UQ eSpace) data collection. DOI