Measures taken to assess bleaching resistance and resilience and protect these coral communities can supplement, but never replace, fundamental management functions in MPAs.

• Effective all-around management of MPAs must include the primary objective of maintaining healthy corals.

• Reducing stresses that may affect corals’ health-pollution, agricultural and urban waste, silt, and sewage, for example-will provide corals a greater chance to survive bleaching stress.

• Additional actions should be taken to build resilience into MPAs that will make them better equipped to survive the effects of global climate change.

• Monitoring MPAs against baseline data and compared to control reefs outside MPAs is the best means of determining the effectiveness of management strategies.