Reef ‘stunning’ despite report
FNQ operators back region’s coral health
FAR North reef operators have described coral off Cairns and Port Douglas as “stunning” and “beautiful” despite a Great Barrier Reef report indicating another mass bleaching event.
The latest reef health report from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), released today, said heat exposure across the summer led to the fourth mass bleaching event in seven years “and the first to occur under La Niña conditions”.
They performed aerial surveys over 719 reefs from December 2021 to April 2022, which showed “some bleaching” had occurred at 91 per cent of them, including sites south of Cairns and around Townsville.
Port Douglas-based operator Steve Edmondson, who owns Sailaway, said he didn’t need a report to tell him the state of the reef near the holiday hot spot and north to Cape Tribulation.
“I’m out there every single day and it is looking absolutely
stunning,” he said. “Yes, the trajectory is more increased pressure on the environment, but at the moment, we have great resilience and it’s looking beautiful and better than it did last year.
“We’re doing four trips a day, we are full, the reef is stunning, we have turtles every day and the giant clams are prolific.”
The report said the bleaching was most severe in the central part of the reef, which takes in the vast area from Cape Tribulation south to the Whitsundays.
Passions of Paradise managing director, Alan Wallish, said there was minor evidence of bleaching off Cairns early last month “but that has since gone”.
“As of today, we don’t have a problem with our coral off Cairns. Our coral cover is very good and it’s very healthy,” he said.
Federal Leichhardt MP and special envoy to the reef, Warren Entsch, said the latest findings from GBRMPA needed to be read in the right context.
“There has been further bleaching in some areas, but we have to be careful to appreciate that bleaching is not the 2400km stretch of reef,” he said.
“In areas that have been impacted, of course that is of concern, and the frequency of these (bleaching events) is also concerning.”
Mass bleaching on the reef has now been recorded in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022.
Mr Wallish said the last major impact to the Far North reefs occurred in 2017 “and most of those have recovered or are recovering really well”.
The GBRMPA reef health report indicated only “minor bleaching” at northern reefs from Lizard Island to Cape York.