Environment: Disaster in the Great Barrier Reef

The planetary ocean is facing big problems due to various causes. Scientists are warning about the devastating phenomenon of bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. According to the local non-governmental organization Climate Council, new underwater images show the proportions of the disaster. An area 1,100 kilometers long, from Lizard Island to the Keppel Islands, has already been affected. According to experts, the trigger was a recent marine heat wave in the region. Diana Kleine, project manager for environmental monitoring organization CoralWatch, who has been visiting the Heron Island research station on the southern Great Barrier Reef for 25 years, says it is the worst bleaching episode she has seen. ever.

""Heron Island has luckily escaped several bleaching episodes in recent years, but the way it looks now is just devastating,'' she told AAP. The island is located approximately 460 kilometers north of Brisbane, in the area affected by the current bleaching episode. The Great Barrier Reef is in increasing danger due to global warming. In difficult conditions, corals reject the algae responsible for their coloring, alongside which they normally live thanks to a symbiotic relationship. Bleached corals are particularly stressed, but they are still alive and can recover. However, according to experts, the extremely warm waters of the sea make them susceptible to diseases that can kill them. If the water doesn't cool in the coming weeks, it's only a matter of time before the bleached corals die, Kleine said. Since the water temperature has reached 30 degrees Celsius, the corals are bleached by 80% in certain places. The Climate Council warned that the authorities could soon declare a new episode of mass bleaching. "As ocean temperatures rise, our precious Great Barrier Reef is in grave danger," Professor Lesley Hughes, from the Climate Council, told AAP. ""Our focus must be on limiting the subsequent damage as much as possible,'' she said.

Continued pollution from coal, oil and gas is the main environmental problem in this area, said the executive director of the Climate Council, Amanda McKenzie.