Coral Bleaching

[mrrworld]

Seems like a day doesn't go buy where I am not reading about the coral bleaching in the GBR. Anybody dive there recently and, if so, how bad is it? I've been looking into a few things to dive there later this year but don't want to if the coral is that bad.

 

[WetPup]

This guy is the skipper for the Mike Ball liveaboard...

It's bad, but not as bad as some people are making it out to be. That webpage contains up to date photos of the northern reefs.

As Trevor says - some people need a reality check.

 

[Tbar]

Currently the bleaching is in the very northern areas, Torres Strait down to north of Cairns. This is about 1,000 kilometre stretch. Bleaching does not mean the coral is dead, it is stressed and loses colour as it expels the algae (zooxanthellae). Assuming the stressing factors are removed then most coral will survive. Coral bleaching - GBRMPA

I have a trip planned in two weeks to dive this whole length so I will see for real how it looks!

If you are coming later in the year then the water will be cooler and the bleaching event over, with luck not too many corals will have died.

Coral Bleaching Cairns Great Barrier Reef

 

[Hank49]

This happened in 98/99 also. Strong El Nino bleached corals all over the tropics. I first saw it in Redang, Malaysia. I then moved back to the Philippines and the whole west side of Boracay was bleached. All the staghorn gardens....everything. Soon after the bleaching, a massive invasion of Crown of Thorns starfish came in and cleaned up the mess. After a few more months the dead corals became draped in what looked like a reddish shard. The good news, after a year, we could see little staghorns starting to grow again. I haven't dived there for a while so I'm not sure how fully it recovered
Point being, the bleaching is only the beginning. At least in that case.
I remember hearing at the time that the GBR also had a lot of bleaching.

 

[jjwebster]

I did a MB LOB over the Easter Holidays, Cod Hole up to Osprey, the condition of the coral is bad no doubt about it, the top of the reef shallows are barren too. I had my wide angle lens with me and really struggled to find nice coral outcrops to shoot that were not bleached white.

Water temps were very warm, still 29c down at 30m, however, still plenty of fish action, sharks, schooling jacks and barracuda, albeit against a barren back drop.

IMO when you factor in cost of diving and the quality, Australia is dead in the water compared to SEA.

 

[Tbar]

IMO when you factor in cost of diving and the quality, Australia is dead in the water compared to SEA.

That's a big statement.
"The Great Barrier Reef, is the largest living thing on Earth. The 2,300km-long ecosystem comprises thousands of reefs and hundreds of islands made of over 600 types of hard and soft coral. It's home to countless species of colourful fish, molluscs and starfish, plus turtles, dolphins and sharks. An area of 344,400 km²." UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription: 1981

There is greater variety of coral in the Moreton bay area (off Brisbane) than the Caribbean. Byron Bay has good coral. Diving the more southern areas can prove to be a lot lower cost and spectacular.

 

[jjwebster]

vs the Coral Triangle which is "5.7 million square kilometers of ocean waters, 3000 species of fish" blah blah

If we're comparing apples with apples, when a 3 day 4 night live aboard to the outer reef (supposedly pristine) costs close enough to $3.5k (including a flight to Cairns), I can get on a week long live aboard to Komodo, with flights, and still have change. Even cheaper if I want to do land based, Lembeh, Phils etc.

Perhaps it's my style of diving, I prefer to do a chunk of diving over several of days, rather than do two "local" dives on a weekend and having to wash/dry my gear.

 

[Tbar]

Seems like a day doesn't go buy where I am not reading about the coral bleaching in the GBR. Anybody dive there recently and, if so, how bad is it? I've been looking into a few things to dive there later this year but don't want to if the coral is that bad.

I travelled the Far North, and a blog was written by a trip member I have linked on Scubaboard Far North Queensland Trip Log

I went to a presentation on coral bleaching yesterday, and the warm water that has impacted Australia's reefs has moved through to South East Asia and those reef are showing similar levels of bleaching.

 

[FishCity]

This article has a map showing highest mortality north of Cairns

Over a third of coral is dead in parts of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists say

 

[Tbar]

I did the return trip, following this research trip, from Torres Strait to Lizard Island (same boat). The heading of this article is very misleading "Over a third of coral is dead in parts of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists say". 35% in parts!

In the article it says:

“It varies hugely from reef to reef and from north to south,” said Hughes, who directs the ARC Center. “It basically ranges from zero to 100. In the northern part of the reef, 24 of the reefs we sampled, we estimate more than 50 percent mortality.”

Fortunately, the southern sector of the reef was largely spared, thanks to the ocean churning and rainfall caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston, which cooled waters in the area, Hughes said. In this region, to the south of the coastal city of Cairns, mortality was only about 5 percent.​

It was clear from our trip that the inner reefs were suffering badly but the outer reefs had significantly less damage. We undertook research using scientific procedures and a report is posted by Coral Watch and provided a trip blog posted by Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS). We had many dives in the northern area, on the outer reef, that were spectacular!

AMCS - Journey to the far North Great Barrier Reef · Great Barrier Reef · Australian Marine Conservation Society

Coral Watch - Citizen Science Based Survey of GBR Far North Dive Trip 2016 April 18-26 http://www.coralwatch.org/c/documen...406-f91b-4ce2-9034-bb79736261dc&groupId=10136