Two of Australia’s World Heritage-listed reefs, the west coast’s Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef on the east coast, have been simultaneously affected by severe coral bleaching.
Western Australia’s Ningaloo has experienced the highest level of heat stress ever recorded, while coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef has been detected from Townsville to Cape York, extending to a distance of around 1,000km.
Reef experts and scientists have described the concurrent bleaching event as “heartbreaking”, including chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Paul Gamblin.
Per The Guardian, Gamblin stated that history would “record this profound and distressing moment,” after the two reefs suffered simultaneous bleaching.
Dr Zoe Richards, a coral scientist, also spoke to The Guardian and stated that she had seen up to “90 per cent of corals bleached and evidence of coral dying” in Ningaloo, and that even coral that is “hundreds of years old” were losing colour.
“This isn’t isolated to Ningaloo – this is happening across the entire north-west shelf. There has never been this scale of impacts in WA,” Richards said.
“I am not aware of this ever happening before. Climate change has definitely caught up with the reefs in WA.”
The last time the Ningaloo reef experienced mass bleaching was three years ago.
In a joint media statement, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Biodiversity Council urged the Australian government to protect the reefs with an annual investment of $340 million.
“Australia’s ocean industries currently generate $150 billion each year, with marine environments directly contributing $25 billion to the economy,” the statement read.
“These ecosystems support key sectors such as fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection and collectively sustain 462,000 jobs nationwide.
“According to the report, the Australian Government allocates just 0.1 per cent of its federal budget to conservation efforts, a fraction of what is needed to protect the nation’s unique marine life and habitats effectively.”
The bleaching is very likely being driven by global warming.
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