THE Great Barrier Reef faces an environmental disaster if marine debris is swept out to sea, turning the cyclone-ravaged Whitsundays into a junkyard.
Volunteers are in a race against time to stop tonnes of toxic debris lining the shores being dumped on fragile coral reef ecosystems in the world-renowned Whitsunday Islands by a high tide.
Experts fear marine life including fish, turtles and dugong could be choked by the vast armada of post-cyclone rubbish.
MASSIVE JOB: Charlotte Belcher, from the UK, helps with the clean-up of cyclone debris on beaches around Airlie Beach. Picture:Rob Maccoll Source: The Courier-Mail
Plastics, fibreglass, oil, diesel, fishing lines, ropes and "millions of shattered pieces" of shipwrecked boats line the high-tide mark on the mainland after Sunday's category-three Cyclone Ului.
But a 4m high tide on Saturday morning threatens to lift rubbish off beaches and breakwaters and sweep it out to sea, trashing the pristine islands and Reef off Airlie Beach.
Eco-warrior Charlotte Belcher, 19, is one of about 80 volunteers in the tourist mecca working against the clock to collect marine debris.
"It is a huge job," said the British backpacker. "There are millions of shattered pieces of junk.
"If this gets dumped on the Reef it will be devastating for marine life."
Authorities are at an impasse over funding of volunteer groups such as Eco-Barge services, headed by Airlie local Libby Edge, to pick up the tonnes of plastic and marine debris.
"It seems like it is too hard for them," Mrs Edge said. "We have got a barge, truck and 80 volunteers ready to go but they are quibbling over whose responsibility this is.
"The council say they will clean up above the high-tide mark, while Commonwealth authorities are thinking about what to do. But we need to get to it before we face an environmental disaster out on the Reef."
Yesterday Maritime Safety Queensland and the Environment Department were undecided about how to tackle any volunteer clean-up effort. Meridien Marine civil project manager Stan Butler said the company would help sponsor a coastal clean-up.
"It needs to be done properly and quickly," he said.
Salvage crews with barges and 220-tonne cranes have been refloating and lifting about 70 shipwrecked vessels off the coast as insurance assessors catalogue the disaster.
But tourist operators are hoping for a busy Easter period to recover from the battering to bookings in the aftermath of Cyclone Ului.
"We are open for business," Tourism Whitsundays chief executive Peter O'Reilly said.
Most island resorts including Daydream, Hamilton, and Hayman islands are operating normally, while power has been restored at Airlie Beach hotels and backpacker hostels.