Great Barrier Reef dead at 25 million

The Great Barrier Reef has been declared dead by scientists at 25 million years old — bringing an end to the colorful life of the world’s largest single structure of living organisms. The incredible Coral Sea wilderness, which stretches for roughly 1,400 miles over an area of roughly 133,00 square miles, has finally succumbed to bleaching. The icon of the natural world is bigger than the whole of the United Kingdom and is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. It is home to 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 mollusks, and 30 different types of whales and dolphins. The reef lies off the coast of Queensland in Australia and can be seen from outer space.

SOURCE

I'm surprised that this isn't posted yet. This just goes to show that humans are destroying the earth slowly but surely. It's all about greed and convenience. Reuse, recycle and reduce. It makes you wonder what the next shoe will be to drop. Maybe next time it'll be something a lot more serious and we'd wake up.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

Isn't weather stepping up a tad?
Tornados in Oregon.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Sure is. We are seeing some strange weather in America. I remember last year, it was hot and sunny outside at CHRISTMAS here where I live. I don't ever remember a time when that happened.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

Shush, keep that quiet. Donald Trump does not believe in climate change.

On a more serious note that's really sad to hear.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

So the British prisoners killed of the Barrier reef in just a century, amazing..

a reply to: Bloodydagger

Um, according to the same article,

The research showed that “22 percent of the coral on the reef died due to the worst mass bleaching event on record.”

So the coral reef is actually 22% dead. 78% of the coral is still surviving.

Sure, it's bad, I mean optimally 100% of the organisms that build up the coral should be alive, but saying that "all of the population is dead" when actually 22% of it has bleached is a bit of an exaggeration.

I smell a tad of sensationalism.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

This is extremely bad news, an ecological collapse that will affect the entire life balance of the pacific and beyond, I hope that some of the reef has survived and that if climate changes back then it can recover as I am sure it must have done many time's in it's life cycle.

Just saw swann's post above, thank goodness these structure's are far more than underwater gardens' they are the main fish hatchers for many species of fish in the ocean and without them the entire eco system would collapse.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

The Great Barrier Reef is alive and well. Its "death" was a fraud committed by Green Peace for a fund raising campaign.

climatechangedispatch.com...

A new report on the barrier reef’s health was released last week by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. It showed that only 22 percent of the reef was affected by the now-dissipated 2015-2016 El Niño, and that current conservation efforts over the last few years have taken the reef off of the World Heritage sites ‘watch’ list.

climatism.wordpress.com...

ith UNESCO giving the Reef a clean bill of health in a long-awaited report, the likes of Greenpeace, WWF, GetUp and the Australian Marine Conservation Society have been discredited and should not be permitted to peddle their lies in Queensland. In fact, the green movement’s role in this sorry debacle exposes them as frauds The UNESCO report accepted that enough has been done by Australia to stop the destruction of the Reef. The trigger for the UNESCO probe was the Port of Gladstone expansion to cater for the boom in coal and coal seam gas exports, featuring the biggest dredging project in Australia’s history. Despite heavy conditions and environmental regulations, the greenies jumped on the issue which allowed them to link coal exports to climate change and the Reef.

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: Bloodydagger

www.snopes.com...
Conficting..

CLAIM: Scientists have officially declared the Great Barrier Reef to be dead.

FALSE
ORIGIN:On October 11, 2016, Outside Magazine Online published a piece titled “Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC–2016),” which used the obituary format as a vehicle to describe the perilously fragile state of the Great Barrier Reef — the world's largest coral reef system that lies off the coast of Queensland, Australia — in the face of increasing sea surface temperatures and ocean acidity. The obit opened with the statement that "The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness. It was 25 million years old."

This bleak assessment was a response to a number of different reports describing the extent of a massive coral bleaching event from earlier in 2016. Coral bleaching, as defined by Australia's National Coral Bleaching Task Force:~snopes

Here's another article refuting the sensationalist headline...

In a viral article entitled “Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016),” however, writer Rowan Jacobsen proclaimed ― inaccurately and, we can only hope, hyperbolically ― that Earth’s largest living structure is dead and gone.

Two leading coral scientists that The Huffington Post contacted took serious issue with Outside’s piece, calling it wildly irresponsible.

www.newser.com...

Reports of the Great Barrier Reef's death are greatly exaggerated—and "wildly irresponsible," according to scientists. The Huffington Post reports Outside Magazine published an "obituary" for the reef on Tuesday, giving 2016 as the year it died. And while the article may have had its heart in the right place, coral scientists worry that it will do more harm than good for the Great Barrier Reef, which is still very much alive and in need of saving. That's especially a concern as the story has gone viral, garnering misleading headlines like "Great Barrier Reef pronounced dead by scientists." “If there’s nothing that can be done, let’s not do anything and move onto other issues,” NOAA's Russell Brainard worries people will think.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

Same here in central NY. It was my wife's first xmas in the US and thought it would be like a movie. If I remember right it was in the 60s.

This time last year I was forced into a hotel due to a house fire. My older pit is getting on in age and absolutely hates any kind of cold so I was afraid it was going to be problematic getting her outside and got myself ready for the inevitable UTI and other problems. October and November came and went and I never once needed to wear anything heavier than a T-shirt and shorts to walk her in the middle of the night. It was surreal to say the least.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Wow, I'm in OR and this is news to me. Shocking if true, I'm going to check it out now.

Did they forget to mention the Crown Of Thorns Starfish?

According to research by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, coral cover on surveyed reefs has declined by about 50 per cent over the past 30 years. Crown-of-thorns starfish were responsible for almost half of this decline.
www.gbrmpa.gov.au...

Do they ever mention how humans fighting them back?


And then there's natural disaster related issues.

a reply to: Bloodydagger

Way to go humanity.

Though the info given is not fact. The Great Barrier Reef is very endangered. Bleaching is occurring do to the waters remaining to warm for to long.
Here is a good article on the subject.

“I can’t even tell you how bad I smelt after the dive – the smell of millions of rotting animals.”
~Richard Vevers
www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: Bigburgh

Time to start towing icebergs.

If its dead we longer have to worry about it. Can spend the resources elsewhere.

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Bloodydagger

Way to go humanity.

No kidding:

a reply to: Bloodydagger

Makes me very sad.

On the other hand, isn't it still premature to pronounce the reef "dead", if many parts of it remain alive? Yes - this a horrible state, and it just goes to show fast bleaching can work, and how fully-responsible human beings are for the bleaching effect i.e. the carbonation of water is a function of an increased presence of carbon in the atmosphere - itself a function of our combustion of biofuels to run our civilizations.

You see how cause and effect work? You see why recognizing limits is an essential property of being Human?

I just can't imagine us not finding a way to resurrect the reef - we are too inventive and creative not to have the means to apply our energies to fixing - just as we've come to destroy.

So perhaps this language - the death of the reef - is appropriate at this juncture for dramatic effect. But I can't let that statement settle to become "we cannot do anything about it".

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks
The Great Barrier Reef is alive and well. Its "death" was a fraud committed by Green Peace for a fund raising campaign.

Those sneaky tree-hugging hippies!