Good news is often hard to come by when discussing the state of our oceans and reefs, but it was recently announced that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is showing better-than-expected signs of recovery after the mass coral bleaching.
The news was announced by The Reef & Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC), an Australian non-profit organization. They attributed the results to various factors including a mild 2017-2018 summer, as well as increased cooperation between science, industry, and government that aided the recovery of many locations of the reef.
The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators (AMPTO) and RRRC conducted surveys at various sites to monitor the bleaching levels. The results indicate that reefs that were hit by bleaching in 2017 have shown resilience and strong signs of recovery.
Various tour operators have also recorded the improved results.
Doug Baird, Quicksilver Group Environmental Compliance Manager, stated:
“All of our sites that survived the mass bleaching events have shown strong signs of recovery; they look great now. We were fortunate that the effects of bleaching were very patchy…I was in the water a few weeks ago at our pontoon site at Agincourt Reef, and it looks stunning, there’s staghorn coral that’s budding out and regrowing.”
You can check out a video of the activities protecting the Great Barrier Reef below.
