The Australian Institute of Marine Science has published a report that shows that the Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its coral in the last 27 years.

 

The report found that the massive loss in coral mass was due to storm damage (48 per), crown-of-thorns starfish (42 per cent) and bleaching (10 per cent).

 

"We can't stop the storms but, perhaps we can stop the starfish. If we can, then the Reef will have more opportunity to adapt to the challenges of rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification", said John Gunn, CEO of AIMS.

 

"This finding is based on the most comprehensive reef monitoring program in the world. The program started broadscale surveillance of more than 100 reefs in 1985 and from 1993 it has incorporated more detailed annual surveys of 47 reefs," says one of the program's original creators, Dr Peter Doherty, Research Fellow at AIMS.

 

"Our researchers have spent more than 2,700 days at sea and we've invested in the order of $50 million in this monitoring program," he says.

 

The study clearly found that tropical cyclone damage accounted for the vast majority of coral loss in the central and southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, while the crown-of-thorns star fish was found to account for damage along the entire length of the reef system.

 

The analysis presented in the paper was conducted with partial support from the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program and has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.