Coral bleaching badly affected reefs of Kimberley, study finds

Up to 80% of coral in inshore reefs in the Kimberley was bleached during the global mass bleaching event that also affected 93% of the Great Barrier Reef in the summer of 2016-2016, according to new research.

Up to 80% of corals in inshore reefs in the Kimberley
were bleached in the 2016 El Niño heatwave. 

Led by scientists from the University of Western Australia and published in Scientific Reports this week, the research found between 57% and 80% of corals in the Kimberley, particularly at Montgomery Reef, the largest inshore coral reef in Australia, were bleached in April 2016.

About 29% of the coral at Rottnest, off the coast of Perth, was also bleached during the 2015-2016 summer. The world heritage listed Ningaloo reef and a reef further south, at Bremer Bay, were not affected.

It is the first time the Kimberley’s famously tough inshore coral reefs have been affected by a mass bleaching event and the first time a reef along the Western Australian coastline has been severely affected by a bleaching event triggered by an El Niño heatwave.

Read Calla Wahlquist’s story on The Guardian - “Coral bleaching badly affected reefs of Kimberley, study finds.”