Scientists say Great Barrier Reef is nearly dead - video

Scientists who have recently been studying the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia have described its condition in the following words – ‘if we were dealing with a human being, their health would be so bad that they would have to be hooked up to a life support system’. As you can see, the situation is not the best and perhaps future generations will only know this amazing place from books, photos and films.

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New images reveal the alarming extent of the damage caused by ongoing climate change. Rising water temperatures have caused serious damage to the largest reef system stretching along Australia’s coast for more than 1,400 miles.

In May 2016, scientists studying the reef determined that a third of its northern and central parts were dead, and 93% of individual reefs were affected by a phenomenon known as coral bleaching or bleaching. This process is caused by rising water temperatures and usually leads to coral death. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the situation has worsened over the last few months.

“After the events of May, 60% of what we saw was reduced to a very white colour, and another 19-20% of the reef was covered by slimy brown algae. What remained healthy didn’t look great either, quite like it was on the edge. When we went back a few weeks ago to see how the situation was developing, a good portion of the population appeared to be dead.” – Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the Australian Climate Council, told the ABC station.

As she admitted later in the conversation, about half of the bleached corals from May did not survive. As it turns out, the whole situation has also had a negative impact on the fish, as there are far fewer of them, and some species that used to be here have not been observed at all.

“We wanted to see how the corals were coping and whether they were managing to overcome this process. Unfortunately, the bleached corals we studied again have mostly died, or are very close to the end. If one were to compare corals to humans, they would require life support to be hooked up.” – summarised his September research by Prof Tim Flannery

Source: telegraph.co.uk