Posted on January, 08 2002
"We are calling for immediate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, not only to save this incredibly precious World Heritage Area but the hundreds and thousands of jobs in regional Queensland that depend on a healthy reef ecosystem," said Imogen Zethoven, WWF Australia's Great Barrier Reef campaign manager.
Ms Zethoven said recent news that a very large potential coral bleaching 'hot spot' had been discovered over large parts of the Great Barrier Reef reinforced current scientific predictions that reef death or damage from coral bleaching is a "medium to high certainty" over the next 20 to 50 years.
The hot spot was detected by NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in collaboration with GBRMPA and AIMS.
A map on the NOAA website shows that the abnormally warm water extends along the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns to Rockhampton and north east to the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea.
The University of Queensland has also recently confirmed occurences of coral bleaching off Heron Island and reported that 10-20% of corals in this region are already bleached.
"The Great Barrier Reef is crucial to the Australian tourism industry and to the Queensland economy. If the Federal Government is serious about environmental and regional issues, they must urgently implement a radical and scientifically informed approach to greenhouse emission reduction," said Ms Zethoven.
Australia's greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by at least 5.5% if an immediate end to land clearing was enforced throughout Queensland, she said. This would also reduce the effects of land based pollution on the Great Barrier Reef.
Coral bleaching is the loss of colour from the living coral animal and can cause their death.
The colour of coral comes from microalgae living in the coral's tissue, and when the water surrounding the coral becomes too warm, corals become stressed and expel the microalgae.
These microalgae also provide the coral with food and following the loss of the algae, corals can starve to death.
Some corals can recover from bleaching if they can regain the microalgae, but those that don't will die.
Ms Zethoven said most tropical corals could tolerate water temperatures between 18 °C and 30 °C but had very low tolerances for water warming above their normal range.
She said recovery from bleaching was also threatened by land based pollution, depletion of reef grazing fish species and the more frequent, intense storms expected in the coming decades.
The worst bleaching event in the Great Barrier Reef's recorded history occurred in early 1998, when extensive coral mortality was reported in the inner half of the Reef, from Cairns to the Whitsundays and in some reefs of the Capricorn group.
"Regional towns like Cairns are reliant on a thriving reef tourism industry. Further outbreaks of coral bleaching would threaten the survival of these important regional centres," said Ms Zethoven.
For more information:
Rosslyn Beeby, WWF-Australia Media Officer, tel.: +61 2 8202 1218 or +61 419 520 960 (mobile)
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