The data included in this data package were collected on the north shore of Moorea, French Polynesia, from 2011-2018 to evaluate drivers of different recovery rates of corals at two depths (10m and 17m). Data on juvenile coral densities, growth, and mortality, were collected from annual time series photoquadrats. Data from two experiments on coral settlement tiles were used to evaluate how exclusion of fishes influences the density of coral recruits, and the survival of coral recruits at 10 and 17m. These data were used for analyses in the manuscript entitled "Early life stage bottleneck determines rates of coral recovery following severe disturbance". These data are in support of a publication Speare et al. (2024) Ecology. This material uses data collected by the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research (MCR LTER) site under Grant No. OCE 2224354 (and earlier awards). Additional financial support to the MCR LTER site was provided through a generous gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Research was completed under permits issued by the French Polynesian Government (Délégation à la Recherche) and the Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie Francaise (DTRT) (Protocole d'Accueil 2005-2024).