Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 'very poor' condition: government agency

[rooster59]

Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 'very poor' condition: government agency

By Paulina Duran

 

A man snorkels in an area called the "Coral Gardens" near Lady Elliot Island, on the Great Barrier Reef, northeast of Bundaberg town in Queensland, Australia, June 11, 2015. REUTERS/David Gray/Files

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef is in very poor condition because of climate change, over fishing and land clearing, a state agency said on Friday, as it downgraded the reef's status to the lowest level, which could jeopardise its World Heritage status.

 

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) said the health of the world's largest coral reef system, off the northeast coast of the Queensland state, had deteriorated since its last review, in 2014, but the problems the reef faces were not insurmountable.

 

"This report draws attention to the fact that the outlook for the Great Barrier Reef, the long term outlook, is very poor- that's largely driven by climate change," GBRMPA's Chief Scientists David Wachenfeld told reporters in Sydney.

 

"Despite that, with the right mix of local actions to improve the resilience of the system and global actions to tackle climate change in the strongest and fastest way possible, we can turn that around."

 

The report, which is compiled every five years, painted a deteriorating picture of widespread coral bleaching, habitat loss and degradation caused by human-induced climate change, overfishing, poor water quality, and coastal land clearing for grazing.

 

The reef stretching for more than 2,300 km (1430 miles) is home to 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of molluscs.

 

Some parts of the reefs remained in good condition but many species including dolphins, dugongs, sharks, rays and turtles were being threatened.

 

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee last year called for global action on climate change to protect five large coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef.

 

The committee is due to consider the reef's heritage listing, considering its health and a possible "in danger" status.

 

"The Great Barrier Reef is one of the globe's most famous World Heritage Areas yet the report finds that its integrity is challenged and deteriorating," environmentalist group Australian Marine Conservation Society said in a statement.

 

"This is now the third Outlook Report. We've had ten years of warnings, ten years of rising greenhouse emissions and ten years watching the Reef heading for a catastrophe," said the group's director of strategy, Imogen Zethoven.

 

"This report will be a major input into UNESCO's committee and here is a very strong case for the reef to be considered for the in danger list."

 

The inclusion of the reef on the in danger list would be an embarrassment for the government and could damage the tourist industry.

 

UNESCO's chief of the Asia and Pacific region, Feng Jing, said the organisation was following closely the state of the reef and progress made in protecting it and would consider its status in July next year.

 

"We would hope that the collective efforts undertaking by the State Party of Australia will bring the change that is needed to ensure the sustainable conservation of the Great Barrier Reef," Jing said in an emailed statement.

 

(Reporting by Paulina Duran; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-31

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[DoctorG]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

State Party of Australia

Who the h is this non-existing entity?

 

Why are environmentalist permitted to just say it is caused by climate change without being required to offer any proof?

[Mick501]

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Who the h is this non-existing entity?

 

Why are environmentalist permitted to just say it is caused by climate change without being required to offer any proof?

Lack of accountability has always been the great pillar on which "the science" is built

[madmen]

Get it together oz!

[CGW]

19 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

Lack of accountability has always been the great pillar on which "the science" is built

"The good old boys" club, if they all stick to the same story and attack anyone who dares to say different, that would guarantee them a good living? 

[Krataiboy]

Why are environmentalist permitted to just say it is caused by climate change without being required to offer any proof? 

 

Climate change has become more a religion than a science. Any scientist who questions the official, constantly changing narrative is vilified as a "denier" - a label previously reserved for those who dispute the Holocaust.

 

Peter Ridd was fired from his job at a prestigious university for opposing the concensus view that the Great Barrier Reef was being destroyed by climate change.

 

His harrowing story is timely reminder of how political correctness is destroying not only freedom of speech but scientific enquiry itself. Worrying, to say the least.

 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by Krataiboy

[bristolboy]

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Who the h is this non-existing entity?

 

Why are environmentalist permitted to just say it is caused by climate change without being required to offer any proof?

Ocean Warming Leading To Unprecedented Loss of Coral Reefs

The Great Barrier Reef stretches for more than 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The lives of the 6,000 marine animal species who call it home are in jeopardy, as a new study has found that warming of the ocean threatens to reduce the reef to a mere 10% of its historic cover. Though the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure in the world, the threat extends to other reef systems as well. 

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/ocean-warming-leading-unprecedented-loss-coral-reefs/
 

 

Coral reefs near equator less affected by ocean warming

Ocean warming is threatening coral reefs globally, with persistent thermal stress events degrading coral reefs worldwide, but a new study has found that corals at or near the equator are affected less than corals elsewhere.

The findings from Florida Institute of Technology Ph.D. student Shannon Sully and professor Rob van Woesik, along with colleagues at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Reef Check, were published March 20 in the journal Nature Communications...

As expected, coral bleaching was most common in localities experiencing high-temperature stress, but it was significantly less common in those places with high monthly variation in temperatures.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190320110624.htm

 

Coral reefs and climate change

When conditions such as the temperature change, corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, responsible for their colour. A spike of 1–2°C in ocean temperatures sustained over several weeks can lead to bleaching, turning corals white. If corals are bleached for prolonged periods, they eventually die. 

https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/coral-reefs-and-climate-change

[ThaiFelix]

Didnt we sell the reef to the Chinese so its now their problem.????

[Thechook]

3 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

Didnt we sell the reef to the Chinese so its now their problem.????

Actually 2 chinese ships had major chemical leaks on the reef in the last year and they refused responsibility or to  clean up and compensate 

[from the home of CC]

perhaps short term they should look into this issue considering the tourist traffic..

 

https://www.vox.com/2018/7/2/17525496/hawaii-banning-sunscreen

[samran]

10 hours ago, Mick501 said:

Lack of accountability has always been the great pillar on which "the science" is built

Isn't that a line the Anti-vaxxers use too?

[Scott]

Troll post removed.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 5:11 PM, Krataiboy said:

Peter Ridd was fired from his job at a prestigious university for opposing the concensus view that the Great Barrier Reef was being destroyed by climate change.

I heard him on a talk back interview. Very interesting. He is probably THE expert on the Barrier Reef and he says it's all a misdirection ( if not an actual untruth ), though I don't remember his exact words. The reefs that are threatened are inshore reefs and even those are not, according to him, THE EXPERT, seriously affected. The ACTUAL Barrier reef is far out to sea and is fine. Some years ago it actually increased in size.

The alarmist scientists are referencing the inshore reefs and not making that clear so people think the report refers to the actual reef, which isn't true.

 

According to Ridd, bleaching is entirely normal on the Barrier Reef . He also says that reefs do far better when the water gets warmer.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 5:11 PM, Krataiboy said:

Peter Ridd was fired from his job at a prestigious university for opposing the concensus view that the Great Barrier Reef was being destroyed by climate change.

He won his court case against the university and is waiting to hear how large his compensation will be. He says he won't be going back to work there.

[worgeordie]

On 8/31/2019 at 8:23 AM, DoctorG said:

Who the h is this non-existing entity?

 

Why are environmentalist permitted to just say it is caused by climate change without being required to offer any proof?

Dying Coral due to hotter weather,what more proof  do you need,and it's

a Global occurrence,Pacific,Indian oceans and Caribbean ,another denier.

regards worgeordie

[bristolboy]

On 9/5/2019 at 7:42 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

I heard him on a talk back interview. Very interesting. He is probably THE expert on the Barrier Reef and he says it's all a misdirection ( if not an actual untruth ), though I don't remember his exact words. The reefs that are threatened are inshore reefs and even those are not, according to him, THE EXPERT, seriously affected. The ACTUAL Barrier reef is far out to sea and is fine. Some years ago it actually increased in size.

The alarmist scientists are referencing the inshore reefs and not making that clear so people think the report refers to the actual reef, which isn't true.

 

According to Ridd, bleaching is entirely normal on the Barrier Reef . He also says that reefs do far better when the water gets warmer.

"He is probably THE expert on the Barrier Reef and he says it's all a misdirection ( if not an actual untruth ), though I don't remember his exact words. The reefs that are threatened are inshore reefs and even those are not, according to him, THE EXPERT, seriously affected." 

Peter Ridd is not a marine biologist. He's a physicist.

Great Barrier Reef expert panel says Peter Ridd misrepresenting science

"An expert panel led by the former chief scientist Ian Chubb has warned ministers that controversial scientist Peter Ridd is misrepresenting robust science about the plight of the Great Barrier Reef, and compared his claims to the strategy used by the tobacco industry to raise doubt about the impact of smoking.

The warning, in a letter to the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, and the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, follows Ridd launching a lecture tour in which he has repeated his claim that farmland pollution does not significantly damage the natural wonder.

Ridd’s tour has been supported by rightwing commentators and sugarcane industry managers campaigning against proposed state regulations limiting sediment and chemical runoff on the reef coast."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/28/great-barrier-reef-expert-panel-says-peter-ridd-misrepresenting-science

 

"The alarmist scientists are referencing the inshore reefs and not making that clear so people think the report refers to the actual reef, which isn't true."

Actually marine biologists disagree with him and you.

"As a consequence of mass mortality of adult brood stock in 2016 and 2017 owing to heat stress⁶, the amount of larval recruitment declined in 2018 by 89% compared to historical levels... The collapse in stock–recruitment relationships indicates that the low resistance of adult brood stocks to repeated episodes of coral bleaching is inexorably tied to an impaired capacity for recovery, which highlights the multifaceted processes that underlie the global decline of coral reefs. The extent to which the Great Barrier Reef will be able to recover from the collapse in stock–recruitment relationships remains uncertain, given the projected increased frequency of extreme climate events over the next two decades⁷."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1081-y

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by metisdead
Oversize font reset to normal.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Dying Coral due to hotter weather,what more proof  do you need,and it's

a Global occurrence,Pacific,Indian oceans and Caribbean ,another denier.

regards worgeordie

Ridd says coral LIKES hotter water. Best coral is near the equator, worst in cool areas.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, bristolboy said:

follows Ridd launching a lecture tour in which he has repeated his claim that farmland pollution does not significantly damage the natural wonder.

Ridd’s tour has been supported by rightwing commentators and sugarcane industry managers campaigning against proposed state regulations limiting sediment and chemical runoff on the reef coast."

Ridd dealt with the claim sugar cane industry is supporting him on his interview and said it's a lie. He does not receive any funding from them. Typical propaganda though.

 

Re farmland pollution, it's the inshore reefs that are affected, NOT the main reef which is up to 150 km off shore.

 

3 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Peter Ridd is not a marine biologist. He's a physicist.

 

https://www.desmogblog.com/peter-ridd

Ridd was a geophysicist with interests in “coastal oceanography, the effects of sediments on coral reefs, instrument development, geophysical sensing of the earth, past and future climates, atmospheric modelling.”

 

He's been studying it for over 30 years, so I think he knows more about it than you or I.

[worgeordie]

18 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Ridd says coral LIKES hotter water. Best coral is near the equator, worst in cool areas.

Coral starts to shed the photosynthetic unicellular dinoflagellates,when the

temperature reaches 32 o,thats what gives them their colours,and helps feed

them.

Yes the best Coral are around the equator, BUT that's when the World's temperature

was not so high,when I kept a reef aquarium i had to use a chiller to keep the

temperature at the best level for them 25-28 o, Watched a program on Tv recently

which was about the dying off of Corals in the Seychelles,whole reefs dead covered

in Algae. Mr.Ridd must be a good friend of Trump's, two denier's to what is happening

to the World.

regards worgeordie

Edited September 5, 2019 by worgeordie
correction

[bristolboy]

20 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Ridd dealt with the claim sugar cane industry is supporting him on his interview and said it's a lie. He does not receive any funding from them. Typical propaganda though.

 

Re farmland pollution, it's the inshore reefs that are affected, NOT the main reef which is up to 150 km off shore.

 

 

https://www.desmogblog.com/peter-ridd

Ridd was a geophysicist with interests in “coastal oceanography, the effects of sediments on coral reefs, instrument development, geophysical sensing of the earth, past and future climates, atmospheric modelling.”

 

He's been studying it for over 30 years, so I think he knows more about it than you or I.

Yes, he's a geophycisist and i was wrong about that (you see, it's not impossible to admit you're wrong. You should try it sometime) He does know more about it than you or I. The question is whether he knows more about it than the overwhelming majority of the scientific community. And he's not a biologists. So his statements about the effect of heat on corals are suspect to say the least.

 

And because it's inshore reefs that are affected by runoff that makes it OK?

 

You might try citing your source for Ridd's claims to see exactly what it is he says. But for now..

State government-funded managers urge cane farmers to question reef science
Exclusive: Speaking tour by controversial academic Peter Ridd is being supported by sugarcane managers paid for with Queensland government funds

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/aug/15/managers-funded-by-queensland-government-grant-urge-cane-farmers-to-question-reef-science

 

I have no idea what you mean by "best coral". Prettiest? As the abstract cited previously from Nature indicates, coral is very temperature sensitive no matter what Peter Ridd claims. Or, maybe, what you claim he claims. It's settled science.

 

Also, his research was mostly paid for by working for dredging operators. Not exactly a source with no vested interests in the issue.

"Peter Ridd raises almost all of his research funds from the profits of consultancy work which is usually associated with monitoring of marine dredging operation (http://www.jcu.edu.au/marinephysics/services/JCU_103139.html) . Work has recently been done at Hay Point and Abbot Point as well as at Barrow Island in Western Australia. The general philosophy is to use the instruments and analysis methods which are developed by the Marine Geophysics Lab to give a competitive edge for tendering for contract work"

https://web.archive.org/web/20180320215425/https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/peter.ridd/

 

And as the following piece points out, he ignores recent studies in favor of older ones. Why is that?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-04-23/peter-ridd-reef-science-climate-change/11026540

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

And because it's inshore reefs that are affected by runoff that makes it OK?

They are affected to some extent, but he says not dying from sediment.

 

The point isn't about the inshore reefs which are not the main reef, but the Barrier Reef, which he says is fine. Given I can't go see it myself I will take his word for that. Don't have to be a scientist to see if coral is thriving, or not.

I've seen loads of dead coral in LOS caused by fishermen, and loads of live coral off Malaya, so I do know the difference.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

The question is whether he knows more about it than the overwhelming majority of the scientific community.

I'm sure he can compare coral from 30 years ago to coral now, and if he says it's as good now as 30 years ago I can accept that.

[bristolboy]

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm sure he can compare coral from 30 years ago to coral now, and if he says it's as good now as 30 years ago I can accept that.

So your support of one scientist vs. the overwhelming majority is based on what exactly? That you find his conclusions pleasing?

[thaibeachlovers]

8 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

You might try citing your source for Ridd's claims to see exactly what it is he says. But for now..

State government-funded managers urge cane farmers to question reef science
Exclusive: Speaking tour by controversial academic Peter Ridd is being supported by sugarcane managers paid for with Queensland government funds

The source for Ridd's claims are himself, unless someone was pretending to be him on the radio.

Unless someone can prove he wasn't speaking himself, either he is a liar, or your source above is lying. He's on the record, so I have no reason to doubt him. His opponents have every reason to claim he is being supported by evil capitalists, whether it's true or not. The Barrier is not affected by coastal sediment, so he has nothing to gain from sugar cane growers by saying it's healthy.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

So your support of one scientist vs. the overwhelming majority is based on what exactly? That you find his conclusions pleasing?

That I find his conclusions believeable.

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That I find his conclusions believeable.

Given your own confessed ignorance on the subject, how does believability not depend on your own biases?

[thaibeachlovers]

There are over 3 million google results for tours of the Barrier reef. If tourists were visiting a wasteland of dead and dying coral I'm sure we'd have heard of something by now. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Given your own confessed ignorance on the subject, how does believability not depend on your own biases?

I've given you my opinion. Continued baiting will go unanswered.

[gunderhill]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

According to Ridd, bleaching is entirely normal on the Barrier Reef . He also says that reefs do far better when the water gets warmer.

Hence Carboniferous  Limestone beds when temps were  much higher in the seas ( except near the end when temps dropped)

[samran]

A no-BS breakdown of all the players

 

https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/reef/11471876?jwsource=cl