The fourth confirmed mass bleaching event on the Ari atoll house reefs in a decade has been recorded by the Maldives Marine Research Institute, with 62% of surveyed colonies showing thermal stress at 1.5 metre depth.

The surveys, conducted over five days between 8 and 12 April at twelve reference sites, show a faster onset than the 2016 or 2023 events. MMRI’s chief scientist Dr Shimhaq Mohamed described the readings as “consistent with a regional marine heatwave that is moving south faster than the 2024 models predicted.”

What comes next

Recovery from a mass event typically takes seven to ten years if no further heatwaves intervene; two back-to-back events — 2023 and this one — may leave surveyed sites structurally compromised. The ministry has requested emergency survey funds to extend the reference network across the central atolls.