GREAT BARRIER REEF CORAL BLEACHING UPDATE DEEPLY CONCERNING: MINISTER MILES

Great Barrier Reef Minister Dr Steven Miles said the latest update from the monitoring teams surveying the impacts of the current coral bleaching event was deeply concerning.

“This morning Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Chairman Russell Reichelt provided an update via Facebook on the results so far and confirmed that many of the corals from the central region to the north were extremely bleached,” Dr Miles said.

“It is difficult to see our precious Great Barrier Reef under such pressure from bleaching this year, particularly in the Far North which has been generally considered one of the most pristine areas of the reef.

“It is still too early to tell what the full impacts will be in terms of how many bleached coral will actually die.

“I know we have some of Queensland’s top scientists out in the water over the next month to better understand the extent of that mortality,’’ he said.

Dr Miles stressed the world’s largest coral reef – which supported almost 70,000 jobs and was worth $6 billion to our economy – continued to be one of the greatest tourism destinations on the planet.

But he warned the latest coral bleaching event served as a climate-change wake-up call.

“We need to keep focusing on reducing as many pressures on the Reef as possible – reducing emissions and ensuring clean water for coral to thrive,’’ Dr Miles said.

“In particular, we need to drastically reduce the amount of sediment reaching the Reef as this blocks out the light corals need to survive. And we need to reduce nutrient runoff which feeds the crown-of-thorns starfish, as they will eat any surviving coral in their path’.

Dr Miles said he was eagerly anticipating the Great Barrier Reef Water Science Taskforce’s Final Report on “how we can meet our ambitious water quality targets and the priorities for investing an additional $90 million over four years”.

“I am due to receive this report in May. I will ensure the Government responds quickly and urgently directs funding to the most critical priorities,’ he said.

“We must take decisive action to reduce the pressures on the Reef if we are to ensure the long-term survival of this natural wonder.”