‘Most of it was dead’: scientists discover one of Great Barrier Reef’s worst coral bleaching events

Analysis of high-resolution drone imagery concludes 97% of corals died at a Lizard Island reef between March and June this year

At least 97% of corals on a reef in the Great Barrier Reef’s north died during one of the worst coral bleaching events the world’s biggest reef system has ever seen, according to new analysis.

Scientists at several institutions used high-resolution drone imagery to track the bleaching and death of corals on a reef at Lizard Island.

“We came out of the water and didn’t know what to say. It’s an iconic reef and most of it was dead.”

A/Prof Karen Joyce, of James Cook University, said she had been mapping coral for 25 years. “It’s devastating to say that this year, my job became so much easier. In the small area we analysed, instead of many thousand live corals, I can count the few remaining on my fingers.”

Dr Lyle Vail, the director of the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station, said until this summer the reef at North Point was “truly amazing” and had recovered well from a major bleaching event in 2016.

“It’s pretty heartbreaking to lose all that coral recovery,” he said.

I weep for the corals, but what I saw on the Great Barrier Reef gives me hope
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In a journal this week, scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority released research showing corals were now getting less time to recover from cyclones, bleaching and outbreaks of native coral-eating starfish.

After looking at the results of coral monitoring trips across 131 reefs over more than 30 years, the scientists found the number of reefs hit by disturbances had gone up from 6% in the 1980s to 44% in the 2010s.

The frequency of coral bleaching had increased between 19% and 38% a year, and cyclone damage had also risen slightly, “resulting in less time for recovery”.

“These results confirm that climate change is contributing to ecosystem-wide changes in the ability of coral reefs to recover,” the research said.

Not really, that is why we get the big bleaching events.

All we can do, given that we will not take AGW seriously yet, is breed corals in tanks so we can “reseed” the GBR after a serious bleaching/coral dying event. How feasible this is on a big scale I don’t know.