Amidst the third global bleaching event, the coral reef ecosystems are going through drastic challenges. Due to the increasing anthropogenic factors, the health of coral reefs of South Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands is susceptible to bleaching. The ability of these corals to withstand change through resilience is not well understood. In this study a coral reef resilience scale is developed to assess the corals of South Caicos for better management and protection against climate change. Thirteen sites inside and outside the local marine protected areas are studied and scaled on the coral resilience scale. The effect of distance from centre of the protected area on the coral resilience scale is also tested. Of the thirteen sites, four sites were ranked as “high”, five sites were ranked as “medium” and four sites were ranked as “low” in coral resilience. The sites outside the protected area had lower resilience on comparison to the sites inside the protected area. In addition, increased distance from the centre of the protected area resulted in a decrease in resilience score. Sites on the edge of the protected area exhibited a lower resilience possibly because of influence from direct anthropogenic factors. It is recommended that other indicators such as algal coverage, overfishing and habitat diversity should be included for a holistic approach to classifying sites based on resilience. The study suggests that in contrast to the idea of population spillover in fisheries sciences, the coral reefs themselves cannot extend their reach beyond the protected areas and policy makers are advised to create a buffer zone around the protected area for an efficient functioning of coral reef ecosystems.