more coral bleaching

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Australia's Reefs Face Bleaching Risk

 

February 01, 2006 — By Mike Corder, Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia — A bout of coral bleaching hitting Australia's Great

Barrier Reef could be as bad as an episode in 2001-2002 that affected 60 percent

of the reef, scientists warned Tuesday.

 

An international team studying the world's reefs said in a statement that water

temperatures for the past four months off Australia's northeastern coast have

been well above long-term averages.

 

" We were all very concerned when we saw the temperature readings for December, "

said Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the University of Queensland.

 

He said temperature measurements were similar to those in 2001-2002, which led

to the worst coral bleaching ever recorded on the Great Barrier Reef.

 

" In that event, over 60 percent of the Great Barrier Reef bleached and up to

five percent of reefs suffered serious damage, " he added.

 

Hoegh-Guldberg chairs the Bleaching Working Group for the Coral Reef Targeted

Research and Capacity Building for Management Program, a worldwide network of

more than 100 scientists.

 

Coral bleaching occurs when the microscopic plants, or zooxanthellae, which live

in coral tissue stop working due to stress that often is caused by rising

temperatures. The zooxanthellae provide corals with color and food.

 

 

Bleaching already has whitened coral around the Keppel islands at the southern

end of the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage-listed chain of reefs that

stretches for almost 1,200 miles along most of the coast of Australia's

Queensland state.

 

" Corals at the Keppels are completely bleached and we are only halfway through

January, " Hoegh-Guldberg said. " How this will develop across the Great Barrier

Reef is the number one question right now. "

 

Healthy coral is key to marine ecosystems along the reef and also to a

multibillion dollar tourist industry in Australia, where the Great Barrier Reef

is one of the top draws.

 

Paul Marshall, manager of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's Climate

Change Response Program, said that while most of the tourism is based around the

northern stretches of the reef, there are reefs of ecological importance and

several popular resorts around the southern reaches.

 

Marshall said there had been reports late last year of some bleaching in the

north of the reef, but temperatures there had since dropped while in the south

temperatures continued to be above average.

 

" We are going to be pretty lucky to escape coral deaths in the southern Great

Barrier Reef, " he said.

 

" It's going to have to be some pretty serious cloudy conditions to avert more

serious bleaching down there, " he added.

 

Source: Associated Press