The following recommended actions contain some direct management interventions that, in some cases, may be controversial because they require manipulation of natural systems.

• Managers should use their own judgement in deciding what they can and cannot do as guided by their organizational policies.

• Conduct regular surveys for coral predators such as predatory molluscs (e.g., Drupella) and echinoderms (e.g., crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster) Remove these on sight from the strictly protected bleaching-resistant zones and adjacent, managed, susceptible areas.

• Implement regular surveys of sea urchins, such as Diadema, which can occur in large infestations and inhibit growth of coral recruits.

• Control harvest of herbivorous fishes in recovery sites to enable them to graze down algae that overgrow and exclude coral recruits from establishing themselves.

• To help keep algal biomass low, consider either direct restocking or natural replenishment of areas with the naturally occurring suite of grazing invertebrates and fishes.

• Mechanically reduce macro-algal mats that inhibit coral settlement, survival or growth.