More than half of remote reefs in Coral Sea marine park suffered extreme bleaching

More than half of the spectacular and remote coral reefs beyond the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef suffered severe bleaching this summer, an underwater scientific expedition has found.

Coral Sea bleaching at Holmes Reef, about 220km east of Cairns.
Extreme levels of bleaching such as this may lead to the death of many corals.

Several reefs in the vast Coral Sea marine park known among divers for their arrays of corals, large fish and precipitous drop offs into the deep ocean suffered extreme bleaching.

Scientists from James Cook University’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies recorded the bleaching on the reefs that are more than 200km offshore during dives in February and March.

Some reefs had 90% of their shallow water corals bleached – an extreme level likely to lead to deaths of many corals, said Prof Andrew Hoey, a co-ordinator of the expedition.

Read the story from The Guardian by Graham Readfearn - “More than half of remote reefs in Coral Sea marine park suffered extreme bleaching.”