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Reef Encounter

The scene today on the Great Barrier Reef © WWF-Canon / Jürgen Freund
The scene today on the Great Barrier Reef © WWF-Canon / Jürgen Freund
The bizarre death of Aussie naturalist and showman Steve Irwin has focussed attention on a section of the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s north eastern coast, near Port Douglas. In 2004, after four years of steadfast campaigning by the WWF, the Reef was transformed into the world’s largest network of “Marine Protection Areas”: the zone covered increased from 4.6 per cent to 33 per cent, or 11,000,000ha.Responsible tourism is permitted, but all fishing is banned. The aim was not just to cut damage to the fragile coral and fish populations, but also to leave the Reef in a better shape to deal with the big threats coming its way – the knock-on effects of global warming. Just two years on, it looks as though the Reef is responding enthusiastically to the MPA scheme. The Australian WWF reports:
“According to a study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University, populations of important fish species — such as coral trout — are up to 50 per cent more abundant in marine sanctuaries than in reefs still open to fishing. Research done on fringing reefs around the Whitsunday Islands showed coral trout and stripy sea perch up 60 per cent.”
It’s a great example for governments worldwide to bear in mind as they contemplate dwindling fish populations and plunging marine biodiversity. The WWF’s Global Marine Programme continues to press for their dream of turning 10 per cent of the world’s oceans and seas into MPAs by 2020 and halve the number of fish stocks which are considered “over-exploited” or “depleted” by the UNFAO in the same period.
(By the way, if you’ve read your fill of pro-Irwin obituaries, this piece by Germaine Greer in the Guardian certainly casts him in a different light, and calls into question his credentials as a conservationist. It’s fairly harsh, but then, Greer is not one to cry crocodile tears for someone she didn’t rate in life.)

06 September 2006 | 06.27am (CEST) | posted by Susanna | |
TAGS Science & Technology | Environment | Animal Rights

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