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'Zero prospect' of recovery after Great Barrier Reef decimated by the heat and Cyclone Debbie

The damage caused by Cyclone Debbie could be severe, say scientists.

CORAL BLEACHED FOR two consecutive years at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has “zero prospect” of recovery, scientists warned today, as they confirmed the site has again been hit by warming sea temperatures.

Researchers said last month they were detecting another round of mass bleaching this year after a severe event in 2016, and their fears were confirmed after aerial surveys of the entire 2,300-kilometre long bio-diverse reef.

Last year, the northern areas of the World Heritage-listed area were hardest hit, with the middle-third now experiencing the worst effects.

“Bleached corals are not necessarily dead corals, but in the severe central region we anticipate high levels of coral loss,” said James Kerry, a marine biologist at James Cook University who led the aerial surveys.

It takes at least a decade for a full recovery of even the fastest growing corals, so mass bleaching events 12 months apart offer zero prospect of recovery for reefs that were damaged in 2016.

It is the fourth time coral bleaching – where stressed corals expel the algae that live in their tissue and provide them with food – has hit the reef after previous events in 1998 and 2002.

Record temperatures

“The combined impact of this back-to-back bleaching stretches for 1,500 kilometres, leaving only the southern third unscathed,” said Terry Hughes, head of the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, also at James Cook University.

The bleaching is caused by record-breaking temperatures driven by global warming.

“This year, 2017, we are seeing mass bleaching, even without the assistance of El Nino conditions,” he added, referring to the natural climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean.

The Barrier Reef is already under pressure from farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish.

It was also recently hammered by category four Cyclone Debbie, which barrelled through the region last month, mostly affecting southern parts around the Whitsunday islands which largely escaped the bleaching.

The extent of the destruction wrought by Debbie is not yet known, although scientists have said damage could range from minor to severe.

Australia: Cyclone Debbie Cleanup Damage caused by Cyclone Debbie in central Lismore. Nur Photo / SIPA USA/PA Images Nur Photo / SIPA USA/PA Images / SIPA USA/PA Images

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority began a study last week to determine how extensive it might be and have already found extensive pulverised coral at popular snorkelling spots.

“The feedback that’s coming back is the more sheltered areas have come out a bit better, but they all seem to have suffered some form of damage,” Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators’ Brendon Robinson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Whitsundays is one of the reef’s tourist hotspots, attracting more than 40% of total visitors to the iconic marine ecosystem.

Multiple impacts

Hughes warned rising temperatures could see more bleaching events.

“Clearly the reef is struggling with multiple impacts. Without a doubt the most pressing of these is global warming,” he said.

“As temperatures continue to rise the corals will experience more and more of these events. One degree Celsius of warming so far has already caused four events in the past 19 years.

“Ultimately, we need to cut carbon emissions, and the window to do so is rapidly closing.”

The world’s nations agreed in Paris in 2015 to limit average warming to two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, by curbing fossil fuel burning.

Canberra in 2015 narrowly avoided UNESCO putting the reef on its endangered list, and has committed more than Aus$2.0 billion to protect it over the next decade.

© – AFP, 2017

Read: Bodies of mother and young children pulled from river as Australia is devastated by floods

Read: Fears cyclone will turn parts of Great Barrier Reef into ‘underwater wasteland’

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    Mute Mjhint
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:02 AM

    good to see this crap taken off the streets. Tha gardai that do this type of work are the toughest bravest citizens in the state & no money could pay them to do it. They dont get enough of support.

    302
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:24 AM

    They do a good job and get payed well for it.

    47
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    Mute Mjhint
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:31 AM

    Really? I suggest you go into the courts & see who they have to deal with before you consider their pay grade. I wouldnt or couldnt do their job.

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    Mute Richard Fennelly
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:54 AM

    Is your avator meant to be ironic

    39
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    Mute howsaboutya
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    Jan 18th 2013, 9:24 AM

    I don’t know enough to comment on how good or bad they are at their job. Fair play to them but nobody is forcing them to do it. It’s your opinion.

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    Mute Gerard
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:17 AM

    Great work get this dirty drug out of Ireland

    149
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    Mute Dave Bowery
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:39 AM

    Well done to the Gardai, they are doing a good job despite all the obstacles put in their way

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    Mute Keith Anthony Patrick Irish
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:52 AM

    Great find, that disgusting drug killed my sister, great to see such a big find and hopefully all involved wont see freedom for manys a year now.

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    Mute Rob Cunningham
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    Jan 18th 2013, 7:52 AM

    Nidge won’t be happy!

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    Mute Baz
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    Jan 18th 2013, 7:55 AM

    Can I hit the red thumb twice for the love hate jokes? .. Please Journal

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    Mute Simon McGrath
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    Jan 18th 2013, 10:44 AM

    Hahahaha

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    Mute Cpm
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    Jan 18th 2013, 1:44 PM

    @baz – ‘joke’ implies it was funny, it wasn’t

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    Mute Rob Cunningham
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    Jan 18th 2013, 2:15 PM

    Nidge doesn’t joke!

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    Mute jim melia
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:32 AM

    Great capture, heroin is a scourge across all societies. Hopefully there won’t be any punishment attacks as a result of this seizure.

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    Mute Noel Magee
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:18 AM

    At least it’s more productive that all the recent cannabis seizures!

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    Mute Damocles
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    Jan 18th 2013, 9:37 AM

    Do a lot of the seizures seem to be in the Kildare area?

    Or am I just misremembering?

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    Mute Hugh Casey
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    Jan 18th 2013, 11:00 AM

    Celbridge is the Baltimore of Leinster.

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    Mute Abi Dennis
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:30 AM

    Would you like some cake fathers, theres cocaine in it! Oh sorry its those what do you call its…RAISINS!

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    Mute Rob Cunningham
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    Jan 18th 2013, 4:41 PM

    Careful, the joke police are patrolling…

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    Mute Bryan N
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    Jan 18th 2013, 7:54 AM

    Hate that, somebody’s gonna be pi$$ed !

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    Mute Thomas O Leary
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    Jan 18th 2013, 9:57 AM

    About time they found something other than cannabis. There is a lot more of the sh*t on the street to Gardai, Win for you now but a lot more work to do!

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    Mute Shane Hickey
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    Jan 18th 2013, 8:30 AM

    I just can’t get that in such a small country there are quantities bigger than this latest find stashed all over the place and its hard to find? Surely its being managed by a small number of people, all of whom will be known to the gards and customs.

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    Mute Richie Curry
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    Jan 18th 2013, 1:27 PM

    Gardai did well here but it is what they are paid to do…..

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    Mute Rob Cunningham
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    Jan 18th 2013, 4:46 PM

    Not very well I’m afraid. The pay doesn’t reflect the dangers there exposed to. After all the cut over the last few yrs it’s worse than ever before. Gardai don’t get enough credit.

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    Jan 18th 2013, 6:43 PM

    Does anyone know how much of the 35kg was heroin and how much was cocaine? I’m trying to figure out what the official Garda value of a gram of either of these drugs is.

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