Coral bleach in Australia 'points' to warmer seas

The Cairns Post 12 May 10;

THE worst coral bleaching Torres Strait islanders have seen in about 40 years is thought to be linked to global warming.

Large patches of coral between Horn and Thursday islands have taken on a ghostly appearance in the past month.

The bleaching has coincided with a sudden rise in sea temperature in the region.

Residents claim the bleaching, which has hit shallow inshore coral reefs, is the worst they’ve seen in at least 40 years.

A coral expert at the University of Queensland, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, said satellite mapping had shown a temperature anomaly had recently happened in the Torres Strait.

"Putting the two (events) together, you’d have to say there is a high likelihood that this is probably driven by elevated sea temperature," he said.

Coral bleaching happens when sea temperature rises more than 1C above coral’s normal range, forcing it to expel its symbiotic algae, which supplies coral with nutrients.

Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said it was too early to tell whether the Reef would recover from the bleaching.

"Some of the long-term effects that might occur in the next few months, if not years, are things like the fish populations will eventually change, and probably not for the best," he said.

"In the case of reef-building corals, if you lose the corals, you lose things that build the reef, and these are of course where fish live and what we depend on for pleasure and industry."

Horn Island resident Liberty Seekee, 38, who took photographs of the bleaching, said the devastated inshore soft corals looked like limp vegetables.

"It’s like limp flowers leaning over. I’ve never seen it before. I’ve been up here all my life," Mr Seekee said.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will not be investigating the phenomenon as it lies outside the marine park.

A GBRMPA spokeswoman said bleaching had affected every reef region in the world.

"The spatial extent and severity of impacts of coral bleaching have been increasing throughout the world over the last few decades," she said.