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Yes it's worrying and sad. But there are some signs of recovery, and there's at least a little cause for a little optimism - and important reasons to maintain a

Yes it's worrying and sad. But there are some signs of recovery, and there's at least a little cause for a little optimism - and important reasons to maintain at least some optimism - according to this recent report: http://coralseafoundation.net/coral-sea-news---vol-3-2018.php http://coralseafoundation.net/coral-sea-news---vol-3-2018.ph... From that report: While it is important that mainstream media is used to make the public aware of large scale disturbances such as bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, it is concerning to me that our young people and many millions of others are viewing those media reports and concluding that the GBR is “dead” or “dying” and hardly worth visiting. Contemporary journalism that neglects to mention the different susceptibilities of corals to bleaching stress, or the ecological adaptation of the reef to disturbance and its inherent recovery potential, are not helping to present an accurate picture of the current situation and they present an obvious risk of instilling a sense of hopelessness in our younger generations, right at the time when we need that generation to be inspired to take action to help protect ecosystems such as coral reefs.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
> and concluding that the GBR is “dead” or “dying” and hardly worth visiting. Isn't that a good thing? A while ago, the death of the coral reef was blamed on damage by tourists.
- growlist 8y ago
  Thailand is bad too. Tourists standing on coral to take pictures etc, dead coral everywhere.
- tomhoward 8y ago
  I don’t think the right approach is to pretend it’s more dead than it is just to keep the tourists away. That kind of dishonesty doesn’t pay off. That aside, damage due to tourism is minor compared to bleaching and is easily abated through government supervision, and the fact that tourism operators have a commercial incentive to prevent damage in order to stay in business long term. That system has always worked well on the GBR, which is why it has continued to be an international tourism destination for decades and not sustained serious harm. Every time i’ve visited the reef (and I’ve done it a few times), clear instructions are given on how to behave to avoid damaging the coral (not standing on it etc), and everyone there, being nature lovers in the first place, is most willing to oblige.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

> and concluding that the GBR is “dead” or “dying” and hardly worth visiting. Isn't that a good thing? A while ago, the death of the coral reef was blamed on damage by tourists.

growlist 8y ago
Thailand is bad too. Tourists standing on coral to take pictures etc, dead coral everywhere.
tomhoward 8y ago
I don’t think the right approach is to pretend it’s more dead than it is just to keep the tourists away. That kind of dishonesty doesn’t pay off. That aside, damage due to tourism is minor compared to bleaching and is easily abated through government supervision, and the fact that tourism operators have a commercial incentive to prevent damage in order to stay in business long term. That system has always worked well on the GBR, which is why it has continued to be an international tourism destination for decades and not sustained serious harm. Every time i’ve visited the reef (and I’ve done it a few times), clear instructions are given on how to behave to avoid damaging the coral (not standing on it etc), and everyone there, being nature lovers in the first place, is most willing to oblige.