Question: Do you no when the Barr ya reef will dye because my family really want go.

Asked by lmcin83 to Shona, Blaire, Elizabeth, Jenny, Simon on 12 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by issy.

1

  1. Photo: Shona MarksShona Marks
    answered on 12 Mar 2013:

    Hi Imcin83,

    Are you talking about the barrier reef (Great Barrier reef). this is a very large reef, there are parts of the reef that are suffering now with increasing temperature (coral bleaching). but no one knows when the whole reef will die.

    My personal though is that the reef will not die, but as temperatures rise it will slowly move south, so one day (not in our life time) the reef might be off the coast of Brisbane.

    Only problem with this theory is that if temperature increase to quickly then the reef will not have time to breed and grow new reefs and then it will slowly reduce in size.

    0

  2. Photo: Jennifer L. A. ShawJennifer L. A. Shaw
    answered on 14 Mar 2013:

    I think you will have time to go and see it in your life time, but it is getting worse and worse so the sooner you go the nicer it will be. Its not just climate change that is killing the coral but also pollution (from boats and run-off from the land), tourism (people diving on the reef touching and breaking the coral), invasive species (species moving in from Asia, etc destroying the coral) and over fishing (unbelievably trawling is still allowed in many parts of the barrier reef, trawling is where fishermen drag a beam along the sea bed to catch fish but it destroys the coral whilst doing it).
    So I’m not too optimistic about the future of the great barrier reef but fingers crossed people will realise and start protecting it better soon!

    0

  3. Photo: Blaire DobieckiBlaire Dobiecki
    answered on 14 Mar 2013:

    Hi Imcin83,

    I think Jennifer is right that you’ll definitely be able to see it in your lifetime, but when you go, please consider visiting it with an ecotourism company. This will ensure that when you visit the reef, you will minimise your impact upon it. You can do an ecotour on Heron Island and even get a tour of the research facilities there. Go science! https://www.heronisland.com/ecotourism-and-research-station.aspx

    1

Comments