Great Barrier Reef Threats

Because the GBR is such a highly visited tourist attraction for snorkeling and diving, there has been a large number of human structures that have been built in natural areas. Every five years, the Australian government publishes an Outlook Report that examines the Great Barrier Reef’s health, pressures, and likely future. “The report is required under Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (section 54) and aims to provide a regular and reliable means of assessing reef health and management in an accountable and transparent way.” The report shows the actions that have been taken since 2009, including the focus on improving the quality of water that runs off the land. The increased freshwater run-off is in direct relation to the coastal development that has occurred since the major bleaching events have begun. The report released in 2009, states that the greatest risks to the Reef are still climate change, land-based runoff, coastal development, and some remaining impacts of fishing and illegal fishing and poaching. The report points out climate change as being the main cause of the destruction or bleaching of the reef (Department of Environment and Energy 2017). Most observers conclude that the climate change is a direct result of human

The Great Barrier Reef is under threat due to many human impacts and natural impacts. These impacts lead to other consequences that may harm our society as well. For example, if the Great Barrier Reef was to be damaged by pollution, tourism levels would decrease, which can lead to a drop in the economic stance of Australia. For these reasons, it is important to keep our ecosystems safe and protected. Some of the human impacts towards the Great Barrier Reef include:

    Coral reef destruction is a big deal. There are many environmental threats on coral reefs which means they are slowly dying. Coral reefs play a very important part in marine ecosystems. Sea creatures depend on them for protection, camouflage, as a home, and also for food. Scientists believe this could be from natural causes like erosion, and global warming as reasons that coral reefs die off but one of the main reasons is pollution. There are many different ways pollution can affect coral reefs. There is a chemical in sunscreen called oxybenzone that may be contributing to the destruction of coral reefs as swimmers are trying to protect their skin. This chemical has toxic effects on young coral that can damage their DNA,

The terrestrial runoff spawned at around the time of major storms that wash large amounts of nutrients promotes plankton to blooms, which increase the food for many animals including Crown-of-Thorns Starfish larvae. The Great Barrier Reef receives runoff from 35 major catchments, which drain 424,000 square kilometres of coastal Queensland (Reefplan.qld.gov.au, 2012). Attacking the Crown of Thorns Starfish problem is through an integrated pest management approach that may be achieved by improving water quality as the long-term benefits to the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

Consequently, there are two important factors that contribute to the ignorance of the Great Barrier Reef ‘s impacts. First, Mr. Hunt’s

Located in tropical ocean waters, coral reefs provide priceless resources to both human and marine life. The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Other natural causes are earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. The destruction to the coral reefs from these natural disasters is minimal compared to the dangers caused by man. Man-made destruction has a much wider impact on the health of the coral reefs. This destruction includes over-fishing, damage from anchors, aquarium industry, overgrowth of seaweed, and being smothered by sediments.

The Crown of thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is another large threat to the reef. These starfish consumes coral tissue faster than the corals can grow. This is commonly known as a crown-of-thorns starfish ‘outbreak’.

The Great Barrier Reef is 132,974 square miles of different species of plants, animals, and organisms. But over half of it has been pronounced dead. There are many factors that could have caused its death. The coral can lose the algae living inside of it. If the algae loss is prolonged and the stress continues, coral eventually dies. Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When the water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. The reef has lost 10% of its coral to bleaching. Another factor is the crown of thorns starfish. When crown of thorns starfish numbers are low, corals can readily recover

The reef’s fish are slowly but surely declining due to overfishing, and the Australian Parliament passed a law that prohibits fishing in ⅓ of the reef, but it is still an issue (Kummer 76). The fish and other animals are being threatened by coastal runoff of wastes toxic to them, coral bleaching, and the invasions of crown-of-thorns starfish. The coral bleaching is caused by wastes in the water and the sun. This is slowly making the coral decline, and the GBRMPA is trying everything they can to prevent this (75). As for the crown-of-thorns starfish, outbreaks of them occur about every 17 years, and half of the coral decline is because of them (“About”). During the 1960s, plans were made for mining and drilling on the reef. These plans were never followed through with, but it is unclear whether it will happen in the future or not. This could damage the reef, and the GBRMPA is still trying to shut the plan down today (Kummer 55). Lastly, the Great Barrier Reef lies in a tropical zone threatened by typhoons frequently. These typhoons really damage the coral and the animals that live on the reef. The future of the Great Barrier Reef is unclear, but the GBRMPA is still managing it with great care today (Hoffman

Coral reefs around the world are in danger. One of the causes is global warming, which has been increasing the temperature of the ocean water resulting in coral bleaching. This essay will focus on damage occurring to the Great Barrier Reef.

Imbalances in delicate ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef can often be created through overfishing, affecting the Reef’s ecological biodiversity (Bean, 2010). Fast-tracked mega-port developments also pose a threat to the environmental integrity of the Reef, potentially resulting in the dredging and dumping of millions of tonnes of seabed and rock (AMCS, 2015). This pollutes the water quality of the reef, changing nutrient levels, and is further compounded with catchment pollution from agriculture, such as off run pesticides and fine sediment (RWQPP, 2014).

Australia has set aside about one-third of the reef complex as a marine protected area in which all extractive activities are banned. Overfishing and other destructive practices have been halted, but other problems still threaten the reef. Warm water has been causing bleaching (For reasons we don’t fully understand, when they’re stressed by warm water or other factors, the corals expel their algae symbionts. If the bleaching is too severe, the corals die). In recent years, bleaching incidents have become increasingly widespread and severe. In 2002, between 65 and 90 percent of the corals within the 284,000 km2 of the Great Barrier Reef showed signs of bleaching. Global warming can only make this situation worse. Another serious concern is that the increased CO2 concentrations are making ocean water more acidic, which interferes with the coral’s ability to create the calcium carbonate exoskeletons that create the reef. Some marine biologists warn that if current trends continue, all the coral could be dead within the next 50 years.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park faces many damaging factors which destroy the biodiversity of the reef, the health of the coral located in The Great Barrier Reef as well as the water condition of The Great Barrier Reef. Most aspects that damage The Great Barrier Reef are caused by one of the following issues: climate change, which can cause immense destruction to The Great Barrier Reef’s coral by causing them to bleach and therefore die. Pollution which has major impacts on the reef’s resilience and heath, industrialisation which is at fault for the increasing amount of dredging and dumping on the reef which causes the death of both the coral and marine life. Outdated fishing practices also causes harm to The Great Barrier Reef’s marine

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, it is the largest reef system boosting exotic crystal-clear waters, vibrant coloured coral and an abundant variety of marine life. Bleaching of the coral ecosystem influenced by global warming and anthropogenic pollution is putting the reef in mortal danger and generating an environmental

The Great Barrier Reef is under immense environmental pressure, the most prominent issue being climate change. The reef system is a vulnerable ecosystem that requires particular specifications to survive. Corals ideal temperature is between 25-29 degrees Celsius; when this temperature rises for more than 2 weeks at a time, coral bleaching can occur. Coral bleaching can affect 60-95% of the reef, the northern third of the reef being the most heavily damaged. The increase in cyclones (particularly from 2005-2014) has been attributed to climate change, as well as an inflation in crown of thorn starfish outbreaks. A rise in sea level as well as the reasons mentioned above has led to the rapid deterioration of the reefs ecosystem health, thus a