The Great Barrier Reef extends for 2,000 kilometers along the northeastern coast of Australia. It is not a single reef, but a vast maze of reefs, passages, and coral cays (islands that are part of the reef). Captions and Photo source: NASA / earth Observatory
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The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the government agency responsible for protecting the reef, recently approved the dumping of five million tonnes of dredging spoil in the reef region. Scientists and coral reef experts universally condemned the decision.
The additional threat posed by coal ports and other industrial developments along the coast is so serious that UNESCO warned Australia it would change the reef’s prestigious World Heritage Site designation to a “World Heritage Site in Danger”…
Great Barrier Reef’s Unprecedented Threat From Dredging, Dumping, Guardian UK (05-07-2014)
The impact of dredging and dumping sediment on the Great Barrier Reef has been far greater than the mining industry has claimed, with nearly 150m tonnes of new dredging set to take place in the reef’s waters, a study shows…
Great Barrier Reef Authority Approves Dredging And Dumping To Expand Port, Guardian UK (Uploaded 01-31-2014)
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has approved a proposal to dump dredge spoil (about 3 million cubic meters 106 million cubic feet) from the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion in the Marine Park area…
