Is the Great Barrier Reef alive or dead? The conversation we need to have.

I was invited to join a panel last week hosted by Shelley Winkel and Tourism Events Queensland for the annual conference of the Australian Society of Travel Writers. The topic was “Decoding the Reef” and joining the panel with me were Dr David Wachenfeld, Chief Scientist from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Dr Glen Burns, Master Reef Guide with Quicksilver Connections.

Kerry Heaney was in the audience and this is the takeout - https://eatdrinkandbekerry.net

Its the topic everyone wants to ask - is the reef alive or dead? Well, the reef is very much alive, even in the areas that have been damaged by coral bleaching in 2016/17 and much of the coral died off. The reason we say “alive” is that reef real estate is at a premium, and as an area recovers and regenerates it goes through a succession process, with various stages of algae growing over the dead coral, until eventually, a firm surface covered in a kind of cementing algae makes it attractive for new corals - or other benthos - to settle.

These days the tourism industry is working more and more closely with science and reef management to help understand the reef and to act as site stewards. Visitors pay a management charge that contributes $10-$15m per year directly to reef management. As well, reef operators are developing a highly trained network of observers who can now cover hundreds of reef sites and give early warning alerts of impacts, and weekly status updates to GBRMPA. Its our visitors who allow these people to get out to these reef sites to add to the many eyes watching out for the reef. The gold standard of reef monitoring is done by Australian Institute of Marine Science but they are limited in the number of sites and reefs they visit every 1-2 years.

So if its alive then what does it actually look like?

Well, you need to come see it for yourself because its big (the size of Italy), diverse (think about the mountains, the coast, the cities and little villages of Italy - its kind of the same idea on the reef) AND its very complex - in fact its the most complex ecosystem on the planet. There are 70 bioregions, hundreds of corals, thousands of species of fish, and millions of species of “Little Things”! Its this complexity that contributes to its resilience.

If you really do your homework on the state of the reef, you’ll hear a nuanced story. But to really understand it you need to see it for yourself. It will change your life. It changed mine.

The biggest threat to the reef beyond climate change is apathy. We need people to come to the reef and experience it so you can go away and tougher we can changed the world. We’re all on a mission together. Come join us.

Environments everywhere are challenged, but the GBR is leading the world in reef management.

The two greatest threats to natural environments around the world are climate change and loss of biodiversity. Here in Far North Queensland, we live in David Attenborough’s favourite place in the world where two World Heritage areas meet - the Great Barrier Reef and the world’s oldest rainforest.

The Great Barrier Reef is the best managed reef in the world, is extensively monitored and is supported with outstanding research. And, we share it with the world through the most regulated, safe and accessible tourism operations anywhere. It is the #1 driver of visitation to Australia.

The institutional and community ecosystem that has evolved to support these two natural assets has become a leading light for reefs - and rainforests - around the world. The Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), Wet Tropics Management Authority(WTMA), research agencies, tourism and community groups are all working together to ensure the best possible local resilience to the global threats that challenge all nature. We look after it with passion, professionalism and integrity and unlike many tropical environments, we can resource this effort because we are a wealthy, stable democracy.

This collective effort is something for us to be proud of and enables us to say with confidence - if you are going to see any reef in the world, or rainforest, come see ours.

This empathy with the environment is our story, but it is not something new. We have been growing into this space here in the north for decades. And before that the proud indigenous cultures of our region have connected with, and nurtured their home in nature forever.

Now though, this is the story that we need to remind ourselves of, not buying in to polarising black and white headlines.

Not that the reef is dead or alive.

The reef is very much alive, is constantly changing in space and time, and we are working towards the best possible local conditions for it to thrive for the long term.

Without a story and strategy that is resilient to whatever happens in our unfoldingworld, we will be doomed to being tossed as flotsam and jetsam on the tides offuture crises.

Our management agencies, GBRMPA and WTMA are central to the institutional ecosystem and need to be adequately resourced to do their job - for example controlling pests like Crown of Thorns Starfish or feral pigs. Research agencies and the cross-portfolio approach and philanthropy of the GBR Foundation add valuable capacity and capability to the network. Often overlooked are the place-based, feet-on-the-ground army of people from NFP’s such as Reef & Rainforest Research Centre, Terrain NRM and the many environment focussed community groups that give local context to the collective effort.

Conservation groups also have a key role to play in achieving success. Speaking to a broad church that turns people everywhere to a way of living that treads lightly on the earth is a transition that will take time and multiple players all going in the same direction. Getting people to see the reef for themselves is the key to this deeper understanding. Seeing a reef for the first time is like Alice going through the Looking Glass or falling in love. It changes your life forever.

You’ve read the headlines and seen the documentaries. Now come and see the real thing.

While Cairns is the gateway to World Heritage nature, the deeper layers of our community are growing a flourishing diverse economy beyond tourism. Tropically focussed education is thriving. We have the #1 university in the world for Marine Biology in James Cook University, offering a “living lab” on its doorstep for research and students, and Central Queensland University embraces community, bringing new opportunities for young people in the tropics.

Business and innovative manufacturing role models are sprouting up all over the region. Ecobiotics on the Tablelands is creating world leading cancer treatments from a rainforest tree; Prof Alex Loukas is one of several from JCU making breakthroughs in tropical medicine; ReGen Plastics is building products from recycled plastic; Renewable energy projects and tropical agriculture are expanding.

How can we better share this great story with the world? We can each spread the word but we can also dream big. I commend Wet Tropics Management Authority for a proposal they have had on the table for some years for a World Heritage Gateway centre. I wonder though if this could be something much bigger that we can all be a part of - a statement to the world that epitomises what we stand for. An iconic structure that represents the DNA of our region - both World Heritage nature and the interwoven role of First Nations people. A window that connects the world to the deeper tapestry of our sustainable tropical economy and community.

Tasmania has a MONA that has changed the face of Tasmanian tourism. Perhaps this centre is the feature that transforms the Global Tourism Hub location - or an alternative prominent position in Cairns - into not just a piece of major infrastructure, but represents for us all a resilient strategy born from our past to deliver our future.

Healthy bottoms! A healthy living carpet on dirty unseen soft bottoms is vital for a healthy coral reef system!

For several years starting in 1974, I was lucky enough to go out on a prawn trawler out of Port Douglas on many occasions. As a budding marine biologist I was like Alice in Wonderland - the “critters’ that came up from the bottom in nets to land in the sorting tray along with the prawns were animals I’d only seen in esoteric invertebrate taxonomy books.

There were ”Superman Balls” Sea Cucumbers, Basket Stars that looked like a Gorgon’s head, Brittle Stars and Starfish, tiny crabs and big ones, Sea Pens, bivalves, sponges of all shapes and sizes. Of course there were prawns, as well as fish of various shapes, sizes and species, but mostly with trawling at night, it was the invertebrates that dominated.

It became clear to me that this living carpet were mostly filter feeders - filtering the seawater for organic matter, or detritus feeders - scavenging on the bottom and through complex tiny mouths or digestive systems, removing the goodness from the inorganic waste.

Over the next 10 years the quantity of this underwater wonderland coming up on the sorting trays seemed to me to decrease. With sometimes a dozen or more trawlers going over these fairly shallow (10-20m depth) soft bottoms, you would have to wonder how much damage we would be doing to the physical structure and the complex life systems that remained unseen in the usually turbid but fecund waters below us.

It was interesting over the same period to watch the change in coral species structure and increasing turbidity at nearby Low Isles. In the early 70’s there were large areas of plate Acropora. These disappeared - partly due to storms - but also to be replaced by more turbid water corals over the years.

It is just a personal thought, but this living carpet, when it is intact, must contribute to trapping sediment and preventing it from being resuspended during strong trade winds close to the coast. Trapping nutrients and organic matter attached to sediment is almost like a giant pool filter - converting sediment and matter into living organisms in a giant flat trophic system coating the muddy bottom. Delicate and easily disturbed by the physical action of tickler chains and nets, I hope our original bottom fauna is not irretrievably damaged.

We all love to eat prawns, but if we are concerned with building resilience in coral reefs, and we are doing all we can to minimise sediment and nutrient load coming into our Great Barrier Reef waters from land via rivers, then surely we must also look at restoring our living carpet of soft bottom benthos in that very unsexy, dirty water that lies in the no-mans land between the coast and our mid shelf reefs. I don’t know how that might happen but perhaps its a question we should be thinking about.

Prawn trawling effort has been dramatically reduced, which is great, but are the important areas - such as off our river deltas sufficiently protected? The recent discovery of the deep reef in dirty water off the Amazon poses some interesting questions for us here on the GBR…

So much we don’t know because we only see what we see…. the workings of nature are so much more than we mere humans comprehend.

 https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/220416-Amazon-coral-reef-Brazil-ocean-river-fish/.  

The magic of our local reefs a few days ago - a story about natural reef regeneration.

The magic of our local reefs a few days ago. We were all shocked at the bleaching damage of 2016/17. The innovative science and reef management being undertaken is a shining light around the world. The recent Reef Restoration Symposium in Cairns showcased dozens of home-grown ideas to assist resilience and restoration of damaged areas. We should be very proud of the local efforts on the GBR - including our tourism operators, many of whom have been nurturing and caring for their reef sites for decades. We recognise that climate change is a global issue - but many people along the whole Queensland coast are doing a huge amount locally for reef health; scientists, managers, farmers, schools and communities. 

But there is also a great story not being told about natural regeneration that is happening on many of our reefs that were damaged.  I was so thrilled to see the old “Beginners area” at Agincourt 2D was flourishing - absolutely the best I’ve seen it look in many years. It struck me once again that one part of a reef can be in a very different state to those corals just tens of metres away. Change over space and time is what reefs do. 

No matter what the actual state of reef health, its difficult to put into simple words, the complexity of reefs for an audience who don’t know reefs the way a fortunate few do. This is a challenge for all of us who speak with any authority on our reefs - scientists, managers and reef tourism operators. 

We all have a responsibility to tell the whole story when we comment, because the GBR is in the global spotlight and our words are listened to by many. People everywhere need to understand the science within the context of the whole of the reef, including its complexity and scale. Failing to do this potentially threatens the way people think about the reef and its value, potentially leading to general pessimism and apathy, a disease that does not auger well for anyone. 

The reef is worth a lot to the world. Its priceless. In $ terms its been valued at $56b, mostly through its iconic status, and through revenue from tourism. Tourism uses less than 7% of the whole reef - and most of it on less than 1%. We need people to see the reef to understand it. Because when you are aware, you care, and when you care you do what you can to help. 

Get out there! The weather is perfect and there’s a reef just waiting to be explored by you!

Economic value and the importance of geographic scale in communications on Great Barrier Reef health. Symposium Cairns 16 July 2018 #Restorethereef2018

What is the reef worth to us? Its THE main attraction for Australian visitation. Especially here in Cairns and Tropical North Queensland. Its the region’s economic engine room.   Its also our heart and soul and most of us would say its beyond value. But here today, you’re the experts, while I won’t be telling  you anything new, I have taken many people out to the reef, of all ages and walks of life - and so it is from the layman’s perspective that I’d like to share some thoughts about communicating the innovative science and management initiatives you are undertaking  in the context of the whole of the reef story.

The reef has a powerful social, even spiritual worth, let alone environmental value. In economic terms, Deloittes have estimated its worth at $56b (most of this associated with it iconic brand value - the reef is something that people all over the world are passionate about).  Annual revenue from the reef amounts to >$6b (mostly tourism) and supports 65,000  jobs around Australia.

If, even in the face of global challenges, the GBR is a shining light to the world in best practice management and scientific initiatives, it instills confidence and optimism.  A magnet of hope so to speak. Its value increases. 

We all have a vested interest in making sure the reef remains valuable and important to a lot of people. Our industry works with the travel industry around the world every day - and especially in Europe and North America, they are telling us that the reef is dead. That is our greatest single challenge because its hard to get past that single statement in a conversation.  Feelings of indifference or helplessness towards the reef is a contagious disease the reef cannot afford.

The recent bleaching events were a shock  to us all and have been an impetus to re-examine our approach.  Many of you are creating a toolbox of initiatives that enhance resilience and explore restoration opportunities, particularly for high value sites. This is a story that needs to be told for the reef’s sake - and the tourism industry wants to help you tell it.^

My key points today; The reef is inherently granular in space and time.  It’s triple bottom line value is priceless and its economic value is focussed into a tiny geographic footprint. The cost/benefit of resilience and restoration work is part of the equation. What you say about your work matters- the world is listening.^

Reef Granularity, Scale and variability

Temporal and spatial variability are inherent characteristics of the GBR on multiple scales.Communicating this simply and clearly to a lay audience is difficult regardless of the actual state of reef health.

^Within one reef are the zones, largely driven by predominant SE trade winds, each with characteristic and different wave action and current flow, oxygenation and exposure at low spring tides.^

On a whole reef scale, its size is often referred to as similar to Italy or Japan. This is problematic in itself because its most definitely not one solid structure, as most people are used to, when you think of a country. I remember once on Quicksilver an older German gentlemen in his hiking boots with a pack, told me he was going to get off when we got to Agincourt Reef and walk down to the bottom end off Gladstone where he was getting picked up by a trawler! 

From south to north , it changes from the wide continental shelf with scattered reefs to the ^ narrower northern shelf with its line of outer reefs

Even down to the scale of metres there is dramatic variability - I’ll just use my favourite example of this, 2 bommies behind one of the Ribbons I’ve called chalk and cheese. One, Chalk, is a bomb site from cyclones that blew from the north a few years ago, and the other one, protected by its neighbour, is a thriving kaleidoscope of corals and fish. ^

When you then throw the variable of time into the mix,  it gets even more complex. One of my all time favourite spots just north of here,  was pretty ordinary from storm damage 20 years ago, it flourished with plate corals and by 2016 was truly extraordinary; it survived the first bleaching pretty well only to be hit hard in 2017. But still, I’m seeing all along the northern reefs, those small seeds of hope as young Acroporas and Pocillopora’s begin to sprout. 

Then if we look on the scale of a few  thousand of years, outer reefs that were dry land at the ocean edge are now flooded; in hours a Cyclone can create a bomb site; and over months COTS, bleaching or declining water quality can insidiously creep a decline in coral cover. Its messy, complex and just about impossible to wrap a soundbite around. ^

Tourism and the reef’s  economic value

Just 7% of the reef’s footprint is used for tourism, most of it, primarily islands and pontoons, sits on only 1% of the whole reef. As Frank Mars has shown in Bali - small scale restoration is already practical and achievable.^

Of the $6.5b annual revenue, $5.7 is derived from tourism related activities. 

Just looking off Cairns you can see the variety of reef shapes and positions across the shelf frequented by tourism operators, from inner to mid to outer.

Quite often reef sites have been chosen for their aesthetic appeal - and often that means they already are relatively high in coral cover or fish life.^

As well, many reef operators have invested in care of their own back yards for years, for example controlling COTS.

So where does Natural and Nurtured Resilience fit and what is the role of Reef Restoration?

Coral reefs have proven remarkably resilient as they’ve evolved over millions of years, being left high and dry in ice ages, flooded, heated and cooled.  In the era of the Anthropocene unprecedented threats of poor water quality, pests such as COTS and global climate change challenge this natural resilience. That natural resilience needs nurturing. Broad scale strategies that nurture resilience are core to the Reef 2050 plan.

However, with such a small reef footprint used for tourism driving 85% revenue, investing in reef resilience and reef restoration at key sites makes sense.  Even using these small areas as trial sites for larger scale interventions, ensuring these sites of high economic value are nurtured, is a way of showcasing applied science and management to visitors every day.

Reef Restoration must still make sense in a triple bottom line cost/benefit equation.  However, it is likely to have  a key role to play in lifting the economic value of the GBR  by;

1. Delivering best practice science via pragmatic solutions and applied innovation

2. Conserving and preserving key high value sites (tourism)

ITS IN THE REEF’S INTEREST FOR US ALL TO TELL THE WHOLE STORY.

Communicating whole of reef context is vital. We have heard about collaboration and communication by just about every speaker today. 

We all have a key role to play when we make comment on our work, because the GBR is in the global spotlight and your words are listened to by many. A lay audience needs to understand your findings within the context of the whole of the reef, including its complexity and scale. Failing to do this potentially threatens the way people think about the reef and its value, even leading to general pessimism and apathy.  ^

Commentary based around statistics can be misleading if there is no context as the lay person has little idea of the granularity that is inherent in reef structures.

For example, many lay people would be surprised to know that live coral cover stats on a reasonably healthy reef could be as low as 30-35%.  Stats and reef ecology are the forte of the few, not the many, so when we hear ^95% of reefs show signs of bleaching, its not immediately clear what that actually means.

We know the reef is challenged by global and local forces.  There is outstanding work being done to enhance resilience, improve water quality and to develop a toolbox of local restoration measures, and this should be a lighthouse worldwide for management of tropical reefs.

^Science is the lens that should provide society with the closest possible perspective of the true reality of our natural world. But as with a magnifying glass, we sometimes are only examining a tiny portion of the cosmos, and must endeavour to understand and communicate our piece of the jigsaw as part of the greater realm.

The tourism industry can be your partners in reef story telling; we are the experience-sharers and the people who everyday can talk with our visitors about the best practice science and management that people here in this room are creating. The reef’s granularity in time and space, and that small bright spots of restoration can punch above their weight in contributing to the reef’s health as well as leveraging its economic value. The future Master Reef Guide program - a collaboration with AMPTO, TEQ and GBRMPA is a shining light for the future to help tell these unfolding stories.

So whether we are talking stats on mortality or bleaching; building resilience, site restoration or natural regeneration, don’t forget - the world is listening to your words!

Accurate, relevant and contextual commentary leads to a better understanding of our reef’s health. The tourism industry does not want to sugarcoat the truth - but we need our science and management partners to help share the whole of the reef’s story. Think like David Attenborough - with simple language our many voices can tell the grandest story of them all - the story of the reef. And remember - the world is watching and listening to you. 

And optimism is a key ingredient for the reef’s future. Our problems are global and we are acting locally.  Let’s bring everyone on the journey as we lead the world in best practice reef tourism, reef resilience and reef restoration.

Sharing the Great Barrier Reef with the world...

If you want to know how you can help the Great Barrier Reef, watch this and join now.....

The Northern Reefs and Coral Sea

So where exactly is the Coral Sea and the Ribbon Reefs? Here  you'll find a map to give you an idea. 

Earlier this month, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority released its latest report on reef health.  Because the reef is 2,300km long, and is by nature patchy in character, its difficult to generalise about anything - which is why surveys are conducted regularly reef-wide to confirm the state of change of regularly visited sites.  The worst affected reefs were in the remote north.  Most reefs south of Port Douglas - where reef visitors would go - were only marginally impacted and are recovering well. 

"Since 1 July, 2016, over 1400 Reef Health and Impact Surveys were conducted on 95 reefs within the Marine Park. Impacts (bleaching, disease, predation, damage) were observed in 74 per cent of surveys. Some observations of coral bleaching are still being reported, although bleaching has decreased since June. Surviving corals may still be stressed and therefore more susceptible to coral disease. There has been a steady increase in coral disease observations since 1 July 2016. The situation is being monitored closely through a network of managers, volunteers and science partners. " 

You can stay up-to-date with GBRMPA reports here 

Currently within the reef, temperatures are slightly higher than the long term average with predictions weather-wise for average temperatures and cyclone activity over summer. 

In the coming week - weather permitting - we will be heading out to the remote eastern Coral Sea reefs to see how they have fared over the year after bleaching earlier in 2016 and where possible I will be posting images from these reefs. 

In a year of global difficulty on so many fronts, I wish you a happy & restorative festive season - filled with kindness for yourself and others.  I hope that 2017 brings you a bigger dose of the best medicine & teacher of all - our natural world. 

Best wishes

Wendy

A week on the Northern Ribbon Reefs

Cruising up to Lizard Island last week we were able to stop at the specific places we've been following for the last few months (and years for that matter) after 2 cyclones and the major coral bleaching event of earlier this year.  Without question the further north you go it appears to have suffered the most - especially where the cyclones were destructive on the exposed coral faces of the western reef edges.  While most of the reef tops have been bleached in the top metre or so, it further down it was a much patchier situation with some areas looking remarkably healthy with a rich group of herbivores (especially juveniles).  Places that had fine filamentous algae covering dead coral a month ago are now increasingly being covered over by "reef cement" - coralline algae.  This will be the clean base for newly settled benthic animals to begin life on the reef - corals, tube worms and clams for example.  

Why are there so many opinions on coral bleaching?

 

.... Our reef (the GBR) is probably the best managed reef in the world. We have a comprehensive zoning plan that has No-take zones. Australians love the GBR and Governments, farmers and others have the will and are mostly working to improve water quality.

But the GBR sits on a shallow continental shelf adjacent to a long coastline of the largest island on earth. It has large tracts of agricultural land, population centers and tropical rivers flowing into it. Anything from the land ends up somewhere out on the reef.

In my opinion, before the 1970's we had a rich bottom fauna on the inter-reef areas, a bit like an underwater rainforest, on a soft, sandy-muddy bottom forming a carpet that helped consolidate the sediment. It was largely unseen & unknown because it's not a very "sexy" place to dive or photograph - low visibility without corals and fish. Not great media food.

In losing this consolidating carpet of life, we also lost the filter-feeders such as giant sponges that thrived here were key to trapping suspended sediment that came out of wet season rivers. Unfortunately this "underwater rainforest" was largely destroyed by bottom trawling in the 70's & 80's and wonder whether it has sufficiently recovered to perform its role as a natural filter for coastal runoff & GBR lagoon waters generally. Perhaps this is a fruitful area for research & remediation that would benefit the whole reef system.

In the Pacific, and even in the rich coral areas of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, much of the reef is surrounded by deep oceanic water that can largely act as a garbage dump for anything from these islands. Poverty and lack of regulation also means much of these reefs have been stripped of big fish and sharks.

The GBR is big; and it's naturally highly variable. Between north and south; inner and outer reefs; it changes year to year; one reef to the next and then within different zones on a single reef and from one little patch to the next. Even coral colonies of the same species next to each other can be different in their response to heat stress for example.

It's normal for us each to form an opinion from what we see, and what our beliefs are, but it's impossible for anyone to truly know the reef in its entirety. The patchiness of the reef allows opinions of every dimension to be supported with images and anecdotes.

This is why we need the Fact Filter of science to help us get closer to an accurate view of what the reality is. The best we can do is comprehensive sampling to get an overview - which is what the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and AIMS have recently done in their surveys, finding 22% of the total reef has died, 85% of it in the Far North.

Anyone watching the weather over this past summer saw that the far northern reef (north of Lizard Is) was rarely covered in usual wet-season cloud, and the shallow continental shelf waters heated up consistently. No cyclones. No depressions to cool the water.

We do need to manage our climate and work to stop polluting with fossil fuel. To work towards better practices on land and water to improve water quality. But we also need to acknowledge the things we do RIGHT. We manage our reefs remarkably well and we showcase the reef through the eyes of some of the most passionate and well-run reef tourism operations - many with marine biologists on board - in the world. The more people who see it, in all its complex, variable states, the more we become aware as a global society of ensuring that wherever we are, we "tread lightly" in our daily lives.

The reef, and our natural world, is amazingly resilient. We just need to get out of the way of nature.

The bigger picture message that I'd like to get across.....

We can all do something wherever we live to "tread lightly"..... 

A weekend checking out some of our Far Northern Reefs...

We've just had a weekend on some of our favourite reefs on the Outer Reef south of Cooktown- unfortunately also some of the worst hit by coral bleaching. Without question there has been a major recalibration of parts of these particular reef areas but the signs of reef resilience in even the worst hit patches are beginning to show. 
The shallow reef areas that simmered in warmer than usual water over a cloudless hot summer have suffered with much of the coral either stressed or dead.  With crisis though comes opportunity in nature.  The real estate that is opening up becomes a home for new recruits - Pocillopora (Cauliflower Coral)  is a good survivor where we visited and it broods its larvae and releases them throughout the year.  Hopefully they will be a pioneer that colonises much of the dead areas.  We saw tiny colonies of other species - presumably from last year's spawning - that will now survive in the cooler conditions and become the new regime in their little patch.
The herbivores were abundant - the Surgeon Fish and Parrotfish.  Damsels and Rabbitfish.  They will be key in coming months in keeping the reef "mown" as the algae grows on the substrate of the dead coral colonies.  We must make sure that we nurture these herbivores as they are key to reef health.  
The Planktivores were also abundant - the Blue green Chromis, Unicorn Fish and Fusiliers.  A great herd of Buffalo Fish and lots of quite fat and inquisitive sharks - a good sign.  They have probably fed well over the last months but who knows - they might now be facing some leaner times as the larder runs low for a time.   
The reef will recover fastest if it has healthy conditions to recover in. The 2 key actions are to ensure good water quality and to have "no take" zones where the reef fauna is maintained in its entirety.  GBRMPA and AIMS have well identified the importance of this approach. 
Excellent media release from GBRMPA/AIMS - with the accurate facts in easy to understand commentary.
 

A visit to the Coral Triangle - Epicentre of Coral Biodiversity

Trip report here! 

So what's the story?

Well it all started about 50 years ago when I was a little girl, growing up on Pittwater and needing glasses to see anything beyond my hand.  I could see to read though, so books were my friends as were the little crabs and fish in the rock pools where I lived.   Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie's adventures under the water with Mr John Dory and in later years Jacques Cousteau's books and films only confirmed that my career choice was limited to one of one - I had to be a marine biologist. Luckily we were a sailing family and moved to Port Douglas when I was 16 where I truly fell in love with coral reefs.  

Exactly 40 years ago I learnt to dive with a much younger and even cuter Mike Ball (now one of the largest dive companies in the world) in Townsville where I was newly enrolled in marine biology.  10 years later, after a degree and a stint in WA doing my honours on desert birds and starting a family, we were back in Port Douglas when friends Jim and Jo Wallace started Quicksilver to the outer reef.  I thought people would like to know more about the reef with a marine biologist - and pay a little extra - and so Reef Biosearch was born.  Coincidentally exactly 30 years ago. 

I was in yoga the other evening with Michael - who runs a fabulous class here in Port - and he noticed my towel, which was an ancient 30 year old Reef Biosearch towel.  I looked at it and saw the drawing on the logo of a snorkeller with a magnifying glass - and a little tear came to my eye as I thought about the journey to get to today. I am finally realizing my dream of celebrating and showcasing the "Little Things " on a coral reef using,  as a platform, the clothes we wear.

I have no idea whether others will be inspired, as I have been, by observing and discovering the stories of Little Things and what they represent as parts in a greater whole.  And to understand why we need to "tread lightly" as the weight of our species falls heavily on the Earth. I hope so. The most remarkable woman of the reef I know of was Isobel Bennett - true Matriarch of the GBR ...not formally qualified, but a patient observer of the natural world "twist tide and tide's turning" - particularly the Little Things.  In the 1950's she spent time at Low Isles revisiting the sites of the year long 1928/29 British expedition.  Issy, you inspired me and I hope the legacy of your passion for the reef continues to inspire generations to come.  We humans need to get out of the way of nature's healing power and live within nature. Not without. 

My thoughts on coral bleaching and other things

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In my 40 years here on the reef, the world has seen global population and environmental pressures increase. We have seen environmental crises from a mixture of natural and human influences. On the reef here I've seen the effects of excessive trawling, cyclones, crown of thorns starfish and coral bleaching. There are a lot more people around now to observe these crises - including researchers. When I was first here we were more likely to see a Taiwanese fishing boat stealing clams than we were to see anyone else.

These periodic crises - especially if they're visible and filmable - get huge media coverage and usually create controversy.

During a crisis the media and the people speaking to the media have a choice. If presented as a threat with inevitable dire consequences - such as the reef dying in our lifetime - all it does is generate panic, depression, hand wringing and - importantly - a global perception that there's no point going to the reef because it's dying. Taking that approach is the real threat.

A much better approach is to use the current bleaching event as a wake up call and opportunity to build awareness of the need to maintain SYSTEM INTEGRITY - to build reef resilience and maintain biodiversity . The mechanisms to do this have been well identified by AIMS/GBRMPA - for example good water quality and no-take zones as refugia for biodiversity replenishment.

Nature is already remarkably resilient. Coral reefs have been around for close to 500m years in various forms and have evolved through dramatic climatic changes. Our modern reefs - are remarkably diverse and resilient systems composed of millions of tiny cogs in a giant wheel, and it's this complexity that gives it dynamic stability. One of the main contributors to that diversity is the relatively recently evolved Acropora spp - the plates and staghorns - that are fast growing and create a wide variety of habitats for many other reef animals. They are also the most vulnerable to coral bleaching. So while reefs have recovered in past major events we are probably entering new territory. Again though, as David Attenborough has recently repeated "the resilience of the natural world gives you great hope, really."

We do need the science, but science needs to be a helpful tool that encourages our own society to become embedded within the greater society of the natural world. If science makes people feel guilty and alienated it will not achieve its greatest gift - an objective and rationale view of our world based on fact. The reef is nature's greatest masterpiece - it inspires, it is magnificent and it's processes can point to smarter ways to collaborate, use resources efficiently and to grow global resilience.

One way to use science within society right now is to get more people out to the reef to see and experience first hand its remarkable beauty and complexity. Reef tourism operators are almost without exception passionate and careful custodians of our reefs. Most have marine biologists or reef interpreters to help their visitors use a different lens to see the reef. We need people from Melbourne and Mumbai, Sydney and Shanghai, Terrigal and Timbuctoo to experience the reef.

When we observe we become aware

When we are aware we care

When we care we conserve.

Everyone can do something. We have large scale problems but the solutions are fine scale. Many are already doing a great job and are role models for "treading lightly" - often those whose daily lives are engaged with the natural world. Many farmers, individuals and companies are reducing waste, minimising energy consumption and doing things smarter.

Spending time quietly in the natural world is probably the most important and urgent lesson for citizens of all ages in our society today.