For the second year in a row, severe coral-bleaching has been reported across Australia's Great Barrier Reef, according to helicopter surveys covering 8,000 kilometers, published Monday. Last year instances of bleaching occurred just in the northern regions, but this year they have reportedly hit the middle interior. Only the lower third of the 2,300-kilometer-long reef remains unscathed, say scientists, who point to record-breaking seawater temperatures as the cause.The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands. As well as being a World Heritage site, it is deemed by many conservationists to be one of the most biologically rich and productive parts of planet Earth."It really was shocking to see the similar levels of severe bleaching this time in the central Great Barrier Reef that I saw last year in the northern third of the reef," said Dr. James Kerry, part of the team at the Australian Research Council's center of excellence for coral reef studies. "Some of the sections … have had a double dose of severe bleaching for two years in a row, and of course, on those reefs, the corals would have effectively zero possibility of having had any recovery."Read the rest of this article on VICE NEWS.
Advertisement