Sydney, Australia — Australia’s Marine Park Authority’s inaugural reef outlook report predicts dire consequences for the Great Barrier Reef. There have been two instances of mass coral bleaching in the past 10 years. Fear is bleaching will eliminate the reef within 50 years.
“While populations of almost all marine species are intact and there are no records of extinctions, some ecologically important species, such as dugongs, marine turtles, seabirds, black teatfish and some sharks, have declined significantly,” said the authority.
“Almost all the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef will be affected by climate change, with coral reef habitats the most vulnerable.”
“Coral bleaching resulting from increasing sea temperature and lower rates of calcification in skeleton-building organisms such as corals because of ocean acidification, are the effects of most concern and are already evident.”