Our survey included all the local markets selling any form of marine life, the major restaurants and grocery stores, the Blue Lagoon Resort, Chuuk Star Hotel and the Truk Stop Hotel, the National Fisheries Corporation, and a tuna mothership anchored in the lagoon. According to the CRMH, the presence of predator fish is an indicator both of fishing pressure and of the presence of prey fish the higher the number of predators, the higher the number of abundant food supply. Butterfly fishes, because they are easily recognized, and because they generally inhabit healthy reef areas, tell us much of the well-being of a reef. The count of butterfly fish was high. This indicates that the Japanese Dock aquatic area sustains a substantial amount of marine life despite the high fishing activity in the area.
Damage can be both natural and caused by man.
All these activities were observed at or near the Japanese Dock, and it is obvious that most of the impact on the reef comes from the ever expanding range and frequency of human use of the reef. Staghorn, Acropora sp ., and massive, Porites sp . Generally, at our survey sites, staghorn coral becomes more common the deeper the water, with large stands of branching coral, mostly Porites rus and P. nigrescens , also present. In the shallow reef flat area exposed to regular wave action, the more robust massive coral and corymbose branching coral, especially Porites rus , were the most common. Soft corals can generate under conditions that hard corals cannot, e.g. in areas of high turbidity.