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Old 10-10-2018, 06:38 PM   #147
Insequent
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City: Brisbane
Vessel Name: Insequent
Vessel Model: Ocean Alexander 50 Mk I
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 4,262
Bruce

Two years ago I went as far north as Otter Reef, east of Cardwell. At that time the northern areas had some bleaching, and fluorescent-coloured (stressed) coral. It improved as I went south.

This time, when at Lizard Island the Research Station people were saying that over the past four years they had had two cyclones and two bleaching events. And yet the coral was still fair, and obviously recovering reasonably well. It seemed to improve, in terms of abundance and diversity as I went south, until getting towards the Whitsundays where cyclone Debbie really smashed it. Still, apart from a lot of coral debris in the shallower areas it was also resilient. This time one of the best areas of coral I saw was at Trunk Reef, east of Hinchinbrook Island. It was amazing diversity and abundance.

I had an interesting chat with the Bosun at Yorkeys Knob Boat Club. He has lived in the Cairns area all his life, and has been boating the whole time. He said that it seems to go in 10 year cycles. One area might be smashed for one reason or another but 10 years later is outstanding. And the poor/good areas are not necessarily that far apart and are not that extensive at any time. My own visits are very much 'limited random samples', but I think he may be right. Of course if the frequency of cyclones and bleaching increases compared to historical levels then things might start going downhill big time. At present, with a bit of local knowledge, I think you could pretty much visit anywhere along the length of the reef and see areas of healthy coral.

Resort infrastructure on the other hand is very hit & miss. Only a few have fully rebuilt, some are still building and not yet open, and some have not even started to clean up the debris from the cyclone damage.

What is apparent is that the greenies screaming 'the reef is dead/stop global warming/stop coal mining/ban farting etc' have absolutely no idea. They did a lot of damage to tourism in particular by ignoring the truth, not doing any real research or fact-finding and just pushing their own agenda.
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Brian
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