#AIMS Coral Reef Ecologist Kate Osborne

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Australia gains reprieve on threat to Great Barrier Reef World Heritage status.

By Mike Foley

The Age - August 1, 2023

Great Barrier Reef escapes 'in danger' recommendation ahead of UNESCO World Heritage decision

By the Specialist Reporting Team's Leonie Thorne, Penny Timms, Emilia Terzon and Evan Young

ABC News - 1 August 2023

Great Barrier Reef's first mass bleaching during La Niña season halts coral recovery.

AAP Australian Associated Press

ABC News - 9 August 2023

YouTube video >> Recovery has paused on the Great Barrier Reef - Marine Scientist Dr. Mike Emslie: AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science) annual summary update for 2023 [9 August 2023 / 3mins.+44secs.]:

Dr Mike Emslie says the Great Barrier Reef's recovery has paused.

Climate Change is the greatest threat to the Reef

In-water monitoring hard coral cover across the Great Barrier Reef remains at similar levels to that recorded in 2022, with small decreases in the Northern, Central and Southern regions.

AIMS' Annual Summary Report on Coral Reef Condition for 2022/23 (published 9th August 2023) found that while some reefs continued to recover, their increased hard coral cover was offset by coral loss on other reefs.

Most reefs underwent little change in coral cover.

The pauses in recovery in the Northern and Central regions were due in part to the 2022 mass coral bleaching event. Low numbers of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish and a cyclone in January 2022 also contributed to coral loss in the Northern region.

Continued crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coral disease kept coral cover similar to last year's levels in the Southern region, with bleaching playing less of a role.

Read the report: https://www.aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2022-23

More about the AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/long-term-monitoring-program

YouTube video >> Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef - AIMS Coral Reef Ecologist Kate Osborne [25 July 2022 / 3mins.+52secs.]:

Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef

Not only is the Great Barrier Reef big, it is also diverse and dynamic.

For more than 35 years, the Australian Institute of Marine Science's Long-Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) has been dedicated to measuring its coral reef habitats to understand how surveyed reefs are responding to disturbances, such as severe cyclones, outbreaks of coral eating starfish and coral bleaching.

The LTMP provides an invaluable record of change on coral communities across the Great Barrier Reef.

To learn more, visit: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef