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The Great Barrier Reef
off Australia’s east coast is “in the worst state since records began” and in
40 years large swathes of coral structures will be replaced by seaweed and
algae, scientists told a senate inquiry.
A senate committee heard
from scientists from the Australian Coral Reef Society and the University of
Queensland, who gave evidence before the first hearing of the inquiry in
Brisbane, Queensland, on Monday, reports the Australian Associated Press.
They are investigating
how the Australian and Queensland governments have been managing the reef, and
will decide with UNESCO next year if it should be listed as a world heritage
site in danger.
What the scientists told
the inquiry was damning. The reef is no longer rejuvenating as it once did and
is facing new threats from farm runoff, poor water quality, a Liquefied Natural
Gas facility on Curtiss Island and a massive dredging project to enlarge the
port at Abbott Point.
The Australian Coral Reef
Society – the oldest organization in the world that studies coral reefs – also
said coral cover has halved since the 1980s, when the reef was listed as a
world heritage asset.
Peter Mumby, the
president of the Australian Coral Reef Society, said that by 2050 there would
be seaweed and algae where there were once complex coral structures, as well as
fewer fish.
“It will be pretty
ugly. And the ability to earn a livelihood will be vastly diminished. The reef
is in the worst state it’s ever been since records began,” he said.
Further compounding the
problem was the fact that funding for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority had been cut and the Commonwealth is also set to devolve all
environmental approval powers to individual states, meaning that plans for big
projects would only be given a hearing once.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the
director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, said
much more needs to be done to protect the reef.
“The threats are
escalating. It is time for a rethink. We are living in a fantasy land,” he told the committee.
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| Great Barrier Reef - Aerial View |
He also lamented the
handing over of the environmental approval processes to the government in
Queensland.
“The original
establishment of the marine park authority was due to a need to take it out of
the state level. This is an ecosystem that is owned to some extent by the
world. It seems at every turn that we are trying to prove that we don't care
about that commitment made in 1981 (when the reef was World
Heritage-listed)," he said.
The hearing also heard from
parties representing industry and commerce who played down the dangers to the
reef.
As part of the Abbot
Point port expansion, up to three million cubic meters of sand and silt will be
dredged and then dumped offshore inside the Great Barrier Reef marine park,
albeit about 40 km from the nearest reef.
David Anderson, chief
executive of Ports Australia, insisted that offshore dumping was better for the
environment than dumping the spoil on land.
“We have been working
with departments to ensure the World Heritage Committee is provided with the
most robust scientific information. The sediment impacts of dredging are minor
in comparison to those from river discharges and cyclones,” he said.
While Michael Roche, the
chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, also insisted that
dredging would not affect the long term health of the reef and that its effects
were localized and temporary.
“Dredging is required
to keep ports open and to expand. It creates shipping channels,
which is an
important part of our economic infrastructure as our railways and roads are. We
are asking the [Senate] committee to focus on the real facts and the real
science and not be distracted by a lot of the emotive campaigns against the
resources sector," he said.
But the committee
questioned the size of the Abbott Point port extension, which could have been
reduced by transferring minerals to ships based much further offshore. But this
option was ignored.
They also raised the
aspiration of the Queensland government to increase agriculture in the far
north of the state. The watershed around Cape York is currently undeveloped and
this is one of the main reasons why the adjacent coral reefs are in a good condition.
Culled from RT.com
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