The Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and home to an array of animal life.

That last bit remains true, but if it’s colourful coral you’re after you may be shocked by what you’ll find. Yesterday WWF-Australia released underwater images taken of bleached corals around the Cooktown area, and they don’t make for pretty or easy viewing.

The Sydney Morning Herald revealing the gravity of the situation:

Professor Justin Marshall, an ecologist at the University of Queensland who is involved with CoralWatch, said the Lizard Island reefs had been 90 to 100 per cent bleached, and he had observed similar levels of bleaching in nearby outer stretches such as cod hole, wedge reef and no name reef.

“I have never seen coral this heavily bleached,” he said. “And we are seeing algae growing on parts, which means it has died”…

In recognition that parts of the reef were experiencing severe bleaching, the marine park authority lifted its response to a “level three”, the highest possible, which triggers more extensive monitoring…

The northern stretches of the reef are the hardest hit because the waters there had experienced the longest periods of elevated sea temperatures in recent months, creating heat stress for corals that could no longer cope with.

Ocean temperatures have sat more than one degree above average in the northern reef waters since mid-January.

Don’t worry folks, I’m sure big business will react swiftly to images such as these and start putting the necessary changes in place.

[source:smh]