Reef "death" figures distorted - Turnbull government claims

Nicole Hasham.

Claims that coral bleaching has caused the "death" of the Great Barrier Reef are distorted and three-quarters of coral in the natural wonder is alive, a Turnbull government agency says.

In a statement on Friday, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said there had been "widespread misinterpretation" over how much of the reef had died.

Despite "reported claims and counter-claims over the last month" about the large swaths of the reef having perished, preliminary findings from the authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science revealed "approximately three-quarters of coral on the reef has survived to date".

"The vast majority of the impact is in the northern third of the reef, from Port Douglas to Cape York, with the central and southern regions escaping significant mortality," the statement said.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Election 2016:'Misinterpretation': government officials reject claims Great Barrier Reef is mostly dead.”