Townsville isn't an outlier. It shows with clarity what Australia could become

When I was a child in Townsville in the 1980s, the Great Barrier Reef still seemed immovable. It was a settled fact like the islands or the sea. As soon as we were old enough to swim the adults would take us out in tinnies to catch fish from among the gently swaying blots of coral close to shore. Later, with friends, I swam and snorkeled farther out, on the reef proper. I saw my first real ocean waves on its outer edge – among other things, the reef protected Townsville and its harbour from the wild moods of South Pacific.

 Videos taken from light planes by the ARC Centre of
Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) show
‘hectares of sepulchrally white, dead and dying
coral pass spread out under their wings.’

Neither Townsville nor Australia has reciprocated that protection. The reef is dying. You can see for yourself in the videos and photos published by the ARC Centre of Excellence, based in Townsville, which studies the ecosystem that we will likely soon have killed. The videos are mostly taken from light planes. They show hectares of sepulchrally white, dead and dying coral spread out under their wings. The vision is accompanied by deadpan commentary from the crew. They’re doing important work, but the footage is pretty thin as a requiem for what may once have been the world’s greatest natural wonder. In our ecologically diminished future, people will be surprised that this was the best we could manage in the way of mourning.

Read The Guardian story by Jason Wilson - “Townsville isn't an outlier. It shows with clarity what Australia could become.”

Great Barrier Reef: Scientists use new technology to regenerate Australian icon

Scientists are regrowing coral from larvae on damaged patches of the Great Barrier Reef in a project that could change the management of reef systems worldwide.

Professor Peter Harrison at the Great Barrier
 Reef regeneration site near Heron Island.

Professor Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University has been collecting coral spawn off Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and maturing it in tanks.

A team of scientists has deposited millions of coral larvae back onto damaged areas that may not regenerate naturally.

They created large enclosures around the coral using mesh curtains and special tiles to monitor growth.

Days later, photographs reveal coral polyps had survived, and were settling into their new home.

Read the ABC News story - “Great Barrier Reef: Scientists use new technology to regenerate Australian icon.”

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.”