Coral bleaching, flooding impacts on Great Barrier Reef despite mild summer

Peter Michael The Courier-Mail 4 May 12;

THE Great Barrier Reef has suffered some coral bleaching and minor flooding stress despite a mild summer, latest findings show.

Low to moderate coral bleaching was found in the central region of the Great Barrier Reef north of Gladstone.

Some bleaching occurred in the northern and southern regions. The floodwater impact was low.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) on Friday released the findings of 190 reef health surveys on 43 reefs off the Queensland coast.

"Climate change continues to be the greatest threat to coral reefs worldwide,'' GBRMPA climate change director Paul Marshall said.

He said this year had been a mild summer.

But a range of global warming projections suggested an increase in the intensity of extreme weather events.

"The events of last summer showed us that coral, seagrass and wildlife such as turtle and dugong are vulnerable," Mr Marshall said.

Scientists found small, isolated areas of bleaching in some areas but no reefs were seriously affected.

Crown-of-thorns starfish and patchy reef damage from ship anchors also pose a threat to reef health.

There was some isolated flood plumes from local intense rainfall.

But the overall impact was relatively minor compared to the extensive flooding of last year's summer of disaster.