Category Archives: Great Barrier Reef

Extreme coral bleaching event could spell worst summer on record for Great Barrier Reef

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Floods, cyclones, heat stress and predatory starfish contributing to impacts as fourth planet-wide bleaching event confirmed

The Great Barrier Reef is in the midst of what could be its worst summer on record with a widespread and extreme coral bleaching event coming on top of floods, two cyclones and outbreaks of coral-eating starfish, according to an official Australian government report.

The “summer snapshot” report released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science said: “Compared [with] previous summers, cumulative impacts have been much higher this summer and a widespread bleaching event is still unfolding.”

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Global heating pushes coral reefs towards worst planet-wide mass bleaching on record

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The percentage of reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress is increasing by about 1% a week, scientists say

Global heating has pushed the world’s coral reefs to a fourth planet-wide mass bleaching event that is on track to be the most extensive on record, US government scientists have confirmed.

Some 54% of ocean waters containing coral reefs have experienced heat stress high enough to cause bleaching, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch said.

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Great Barrier Reef discovery overturns belief Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery, archaeologists say

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Paper dates 82 pottery pieces found in single dig site at between 3,000 and 2,000 years old

Groundbreaking archaeological research may have upended the longstanding belief that Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery.

A paper published in the Quaternary Science Reviews on Wednesday details the finding of 82 pottery pieces from a single dig site on a Great Barrier Reef island, dates them at between 3,000 and 2,000 years old and determines that the pots were most likely made by Aboriginal people using locally sourced clay and temper.

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Almost half of cane growers sceptical of science behind laws protecting Great Barrier Reef

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Review found ongoing ‘mistrust’ among farmers, including many who remain unconvinced by need for pollution regulations

A review of the Queensland government’s Great Barrier Reef protection regulations has found that almost half the affected farmers still believe there is little or no scientific evidence to support pollution reduction rules.

The laws, passed in 2019, were based on scientific advice that limits on sediment and chemical runoff were needed in the reef catchment, amid concerns about water quality.

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Lord Howe island faces ‘major’ coral bleaching as ocean temperatures continue to break records

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Exclusive: Fears coral bleaching moving south to Lord Howe, Norfolk islands after southern Great Barrier Reef experiences worst heat stress since 1985

Scientists fear excessive ocean heat – which is bleaching corals in parts of the Great Barrier Reef – is now hitting the world’s most southern coral reef at the World Heritage-listed Lord Howe island.

There are also concerns ocean temperatures are reaching dangerous levels for corals at Australia’s remote Norfolk Island, which is about 1400km east of Queensland’s Gold Coast.

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ACCC to investigate supermarket sector – as it happened

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BoM issues wind weather warning for Tasmania

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in parts of Tasmania.

Australia has a very important role to play as a signatory to the ICJ, a signatory to the genocide convention, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and ensure that the investigations that are occurring with UNRWA … don’t inhibit funding and delivery of services that are going to basically save lives in coming days and weeks and months.

UNRWA has done the right thing in standing down the staff, sacking them. They have got an independent investigation occurring. 150 UN UNRWA staff have been killed, their families and children as well, over the past several months of this conflict. The UN is in the middle, sandwiched in the conflict, trying to do its best to save lives. Donor governments like Australia need to bear this in mind that, if funding ceases, there is nowhere else to turn to. People will simply collapse and die.

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Fears back-to-back cyclones may have damaged Great Barrier Reef

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Strong waves and sediment-laden freshwater pushed out from river catchments may have damaged parts of reef system, experts say

Back-to-back cyclones crossing the Great Barrier Reef have experts concerned vast flood plumes and heavy waves may have damaged parts of the world’s biggest coral reef system.

Reef scientists and conservationists went into the summer worried that an El Niño weather pattern would elevate the risk of mass coral bleaching.

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Phone service slowly returns to flood-hit areas – as it happened

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Just circling back to QFES assistant commissioner Kevin Walsh, who mentioned the state of the roads and reminded people in the area to be very careful when driving around.

Walsh said:

Monday afternoon was the first opportunity that we had to send in rotary aircraft, so we got rotary-wing aircraft in large numbers up in Far North Queensland at the moment through private contractors and also Australian Defence Force. So they’re very busy in the air and relocating people.

And I think the other message also is to have a look at those roads and the damage that they have sustained. There are many roads still under water where you can not see that damage. So it’s really important for the local people to realise that it’s still very, very dangerous to be driving through flooded waters because you can’t see the damage of the roads underneath it. That’s one of our key messages we’d like the local communities to heed.

So far we’ve only been able to assess about 60 properties. I think throughout today though, we’ll get a better sense of how many properties are affected, and then we’ll be looking for further packages of disaster assistance that will put together or put together with the commonwealth.

But just judging from the other emergencies that I’ve been a part of, we’re talking billions not millions [of dollars].

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Scientists brace for possibility of ‘severe’ damage to Great Barrier Reef from ex-Cyclone Jasper

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Modelling produced by Institute of Marine Science shows ‘huge area’ in which waves and flood waters could have destroyed coral colonies

Cyclone Jasper’s slow-moving progress across the Coral Sea exposed as much as 20% of the Great Barrier Reef to waves high enough to break apart corals, according to modelling from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims).

Scientists are also concerned flood waters from ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper that drained out into the reef’s lagoon waters could affect corals and seagrass meadows close to shore.

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Great Barrier Reef annual coral spawning begins east of Cairns

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Divers captured the spawning of soft corals on Moore Reef with researchers to analyse next generation

Annual coral spawning has begun on the outer Great Barrier Reef, with researchers set to analyse the next generation of corals.

Divers captured the spawning of soft corals on Moore Reef, 47km east of Cairns, on Thursday night.

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Past and present public servants to be investigated – as it happened

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Home prices to keep rising despite higher rates: REA

National property prices are expected to increase by up to five per cent in 2023, having already lifted more than two per cent since the start of the year, AAP reports.

We saw price increases despite rising interest rates and reduced borrowing capacities and anticipate moderate price increases to continue over the coming months.

Don’t wait for a flare to rise from Canberra, until you get started.

The campaign has truly begun. Get out there, talk to your family, talk to your friends.

This is your moment.

I urge you to campaign for a future you want to see.

We will win this referendum, conversation by conversation. Silence doesn’t make history, people make history.

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Marine heatwave off north-east Australia sets off alarm over health of Great Barrier Reef

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Experts fear for health of corals and other marine life as about 1m sq km of ocean experience prolonged elevated temperatures

A marine heatwave has broken out along more than 2,000km of the Queensland coast, raising concerns for the health of corals on the Great Barrier Reef and other ocean life.

Satellite data managed by the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) shows the heatwave started to emerge at the end of June.

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Is that you, Migaloo? Tourist captures video of familiar-looking whale over Great Barrier Reef

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Second sighting of white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be famous humpback

The second sighting of a white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be Migaloo, the elusive albino humpback who has not been seen in three years.

A tourist flying over the Great Barrier Reef filmed what appears to be a white humpback whale swimming north, as thousands of humpbacks make their annual migration from Antartica to warmer waters to breed.

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Australia needs to reduce emissions to net zero by 2038 to do ‘fair share’ to contain global heating, analysis shows

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Exclusive: Researchers say government’s climate schedule needs to be brought forward by a decade to keep heating to 1.5C

Australia’s fair share of action to give the world a chance of keeping global heating to 1.5C would mean reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2038 – more than a decade ahead of the government’s schedule, according to new scientific analysis.

To stay on track to keep global heating of 1.5C within reach – a goal the climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen has described as vital – Australia’s 2035 target would need to see a cut of 90% on 2005 levels by 2035, the analysis says.

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Australia news live: budget and minimum wage hike not to blame for rising interest rates, Chalmers says

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Treasurer points finger at inflation, adding ‘people are under pressure and the global economic conditions are not helping either’. Follow live

Parts of Victoria and South Australia are being warned to expect heavy rainfall today.

The heavy rain that’s already hit Western Australia is sweeping across the country, with South Australia’s Riverland and Murraylands warned to brace for heavy rainfall to last until Friday.

We want to see productivity get going. We have had the worst decade, I think, in productivity growth in the last 60 years in the previous decade so there’s a lot of work to do. We can’t turn that around in one year.

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Queensland urged to end its ‘failing’ shark nets and drum lines program

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Scientists call on government to replace lethal control measures amid criticism of its use of federal money at the Great Barrier Reef

Scientists are urging the Queensland government to remove shark nets and traditional drum lines from coastlines, saying “ineffective” lethal methods are inhumane, amid criticism of the state’s use of federal money for measures at the Great Barrier Reef.

Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist at Humane Society International, said Queensland’s lethal shark control program is “failing” on both environmental and public safety fronts and should be “discontinued”.

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‘Absolutely buggered’: paddleboarding couple survive three days adrift off Queensland coast

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Lorne Benussi says he found the pair 55km from North West Island, from where they had drifted out to sea

A Queensland man who rescued a couple who say they spent three days adrift at sea has told the extraordinary tale of their survival.

Lorne Benussi said he had just fallen asleep on Monday night when he heard screams for help outside his boat.

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Australia politics live: Dutton says Coalition won’t support motion to censure Morrison – but Archer says she is ‘inclined to’

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The censure motion against Scott Morrison over multiple ministries scandal will be debated in House of Representatives tomorrow. Follow the day’s news live

Bipartisanship cedes to brinkmanship in battle over integrity commission

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus is preparing to stare down the Liberals and the Greens over an amendment to the national anti-corruption commission legislation which Dreyfus says risks establishing the commission and the Liberals and Greens say will ensure it won’t be political.

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Fraser Island’s formation over 1m years ago was critical to development of Great Barrier Reef, study reveals

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Scientists say the world’s largest sand island helped create clearer water conditions for reef growth

The world’s largest sand island formed around a million years ago and enabled the southern and central Great Barrier Reef to develop, new research suggests.

An international team of scientists have dated K’gari (Fraser Island) and the nearby Cooloola Sand Mass in south-east Queensland as forming between 0.7m and 1.2m years ago.

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Severe weather warning for NSW and Victoria – as it happened

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Victoria is expecting the worst flooding from Sunday as NSW braces for more extreme weather. This blog is now closed

Plibersek is asked to explain a little bit more about the funding. Labor pledged a similar amount before the election, so is this new money?

This is additional because it’s in our first budget, so it’s delivering on the promise we made.

We agreed with that billion dollars of spending and we’re saying that’s not quite enough.

We need to spend $1.2bn over coming years and it’ll mean things like a new research centre in Gladstone, employing scientists to do really critical work on coastal ecosystems.

Well, it means that we can do important projects like stabilising riverbanks, replanting mangroves, reed beds and seagrass meadows to improve the water quality that’s coming from the land into the reef.

It means that we can work with traditional owners who are controlling crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks.

Together we hope to these measures can start to turn around the health of the reef, it is a still a beautiful natural wonder of the world. We’ve got a little bit of a breathing space in the last couple of years. We’ve seen some of those corals come back because we’ve had cooler weather and we need to build on that to protect and restore.

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