Great Barrier Reef election battle brews amid fears of more coral bleaching

Brisbane Times
January 7, 2022


The government agency that oversees the Great Barrier Reef has warned it is at risk of another summer of coral bleaching as the major parties prepare for an election campaign clash over management of the natural wonder.

Visiting Queensland on Friday, Labor leader Anthony Albanese attacked the government’s environmental record as he pledged $163 million for conservation and to dismantle the controversial Great Barrier Reef Foundation championed by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The Great Barrier Reef is at risk of coral bleaching again this summer.


Mr Albanese said the foundation, which received $443 million in seed capital in 2018 and set a target to raise $357 million in private funds, had failed to deliver value for taxpayers. Australia’s Auditor-General found in May the organisation had raised just $54 million – 99 per cent of which was for in-kind services, with just $684,000 in cash donations.

The Opposition Leader also accused the government of being “hostage” to climate sceptics in the Coalition.   


Back-to-back La Nina weather events have produced two wet years in Australia, including the wettest November on record in 2021.
Global warming
Global warming heats up Australia’s cool La Nina weather cycle
“If you’re allowing [Nationals leader] Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals party to control your climate policy, then you’re not fair dinkum about protecting the reef. It’s as simple as that,” he said.   

A spokesman for Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the government had committed $1.9 billion for the reef to date.

“The Morrison government will continue to invest heavily in the reef and in its community,” the spokesman said.

The Great Barrier Reef is a relatively uncontroversial environmental issue for both major parties to campaign on heading into the federal election, due by the end of May, with the tourism drawcard supporting 64,000 jobs and contributing $6.4 billion to the economy.



Central Queensland, where coal and gas are major industries, is a key battleground for votes and speculation is rife in the sector that the government will soon make the reef a subject of an election commitment with a hefty price tag.

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Scientists say both major parties’ climate commitments fail to act consistently with the global action required to reduce carbon emissions enough to save the reef. The government and Labor have committed to reach net zero by 2050 and to curb emissions 28 per cent and 43 per cent by 2030, respectively.

Climate change is heating ocean and atmospheric temperatures, raising the risk of mass bleaching events. The Great Barrier Reef suffered severe back-to-back bleaching that wiped out swathes of corals in 2016, 2017 and 2020.

While there have been consecutive La Nina weather events, which typically bring cooler conditions, in the past two years, Australia has warmed by 1.4 degrees, faster than the global average, and scientists warn the reef is now at risk of bleaching every summer.

Global coral cover is forecast to decline 95 per cent under 2 degrees of warming, and 70 per cent under 1.5 degrees.


Scientists warn that coral reefs worldwide are likely to be wiped out if temperatures breach 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.
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The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is expecting another bleaching event this summer, with corals already under heat stress due to elevated sea surface temperatures since December.

However, the authority said on Friday it remained to be seen if bleaching would be small or large scale, with its severity dependent on cloud cover, rain or cyclones.

“In the past, La Nina conditions would have meant very little chance of mass bleaching on the reef, but as average sea surface temperatures are rising, this is no longer the case,” a spokesperson said.

“Climate change is the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. Only the strongest and fastest possible actions to decrease global greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the risks and limit the impacts of climate change.”

Meanwhile, the government faces a test over the reef from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which is considering another move to rescind its World Heritage status.

UNESCO issued a draft decision in June to list the reef’s World Heritage status as “in danger”, citing concerns over Australia’s climate change policy and management of water quality. While a majority of countries on UNESCO’s committee voted against downgrading the reef’s status, Australia is required to provide an update to justify its World Heritage ranking by next month.

Quote:


Thanks Lee. That's reassuring.

From the OP ...

... the government had committed

$1.9 billion

for the reef to date.

If it's too hot for the coral won't it just move further South
over many years?

We might end up with it growing near Sydney.

The good thing about the GBR bleaching and dying off for any positive Tourism, is that the Mining Companies will have free avenue to exploit the area.

Sorta like saying Abos never really existed here in the first place.

freediver wrote on Jan 8^th, 2022 at 8:14pm:



Poor petal. Corals grow from the spawn. Didn't you know that. So tiny little beings building ever so slowly. So perhaps what you mean is measurable growth.

But look at the data from AIMS -




Also take into account the Crown of Thorn (Starfish (COTS) which is a natural predator. And Cyclones they are detrimental too.

freediver wrote on Jan 8^th, 2022 at 8:14pm:


So tell us petal when and where they did the necropsies. perhaps you mean those "dead" corals that channeled Lazarus.

But they do die of old age.

Edit: BTW Flying over the coral, as was done, does not show corals as either dead or alive. The colour varies with the depth of the water.

freediver wrote on Jan 8^th, 2022 at 10:30pm:


The different coloured algae (zooxanthellae) are the "colour" of the reef. No algae - white - bleached.

https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/fullmoon-coralandalgae/welcome.html

" The algae also give a coral its color; coral polyps are actually transparent, so the color of the algae inside the polyps show through."

https://www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/basic-information-about-coral-reefs


How deep? The colour "washes out" with depth.

Never admit your lack of knowledge do you?

So how far under water was your picture taken? Was it colour corrected to take out the "blue" of the ocean?

" This is because wavelengths in the blue part of the visible light spectrum penetrate water to some few metres, while all the wavelengths in the red part of the spectrum are absorbed by 5 metres under the water. "

https://jennifermarohasy.com/2021/09/bleached-from-a-distance/