Is the Great Barrier Reef dead yet?

The coral reefs were first affected by "severe coral bleaching events". First in 1998, then 2002, 2016, and again in 2017. At this point two-thirds of Australia's Great Barrier Reefs have been impacted by coral bleaching.

According to an Australian Research Council expert, "Last year was bad enough, this is a disaster." This year cumulated with last years coral bleaching has created 8,000km fresh damage in the north and centre coral reefs.

Increased global temperatures increase the ocean's surface temperatures resulting in mass bleachings. Professor Terry Hughes said it would take at least ten years for coral to regenerate, leaving scientists concerned with the increased frequency of bleaching events.

The correlation was made that "the category-four tropical cyclone Debbie [came last tuesday] came too and too far south for its cooling effect to alleviate bleaching.I found it interesting that disasters have become so common that we rely on disasters to fix our mistakes whether they were human made or not. Hughes comments that the cyclone could have relieved some of the pressure on the coral reefs, but it hit at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the world's largest and most diverse ecosystem. There are over 2,900 reefs and half the size of Texas. The GBR is home to over 1,500 species of fish, including 411 types of hard coral. Is this something we're willing to let die off? Last year there was a video that went viral when the GBR was severely affected by the coral bleaching. It was labeled 'RIP Great Barrier Reef' because it was such a drastic amount of space that was impacted. 

  

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/10/great-barrier-reef-terminal-stage-australia-scientists-despair-latest-coral-bleaching-data

By Juliet Jones