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Abstract
Sixty years after a dredge and landfill project, sedimentation rates in Castle Harbour, Bermuda remained high compared to control reefs elsewhere on the Bermuda platform and similar to those near an active shipping channel. Coral community structure, sedimentation rates, flow and light were measured after a 30-year gap in data. Coral cover and abiotic factors varied within and among study reefs highlighting the need to measure environmental variables at micro scales on declining coral reefs. Given the length of time since the dredge/fill disturbance some aspect of reef recovery was expected, yet coral cover on reefs in proximity to the dredge scar had decreased from 12% cover in 1978 to 2% coral cover in 2003.