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SAFEGUARDING THE SEAS25 February 2003 Researchers in Australia’s CRCs are leading an international race against time to safeguard coastal waters, coral reefs, sea life and marine ecosystems against the growing impact of human activities. Threats to the Great Barrier Reef from coral bleaching are real and pose a major management challenge, says CRC Reef Program Leader Dr Terry Done from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). "In 2002 there was a major bleaching episode caused by raised sea surface temperatures. Coral bleaching was seen on 60 per cent of 600 reefs surveyed, though it was more severe in some places than others.” "The immediate application of our coral bleaching research will
be ”CRC Reef has very broad program of biophysical and socio-economic research intended to underpin way the Reef is used and managed for the benefit of the present and future generations,” Dr Done says. Risks to the reef from bleaching, runoff, pollution and other sources are being monitored in a major program in CRC Reef and AIMS at 200 sites along the Reef. This includes permanent transects at 48 reefs where regular video surveys of coral, and fish counts are carried out. Protection of coral reefs begins on land, at the top of the catchments, says Professor Richard Pearson of the CRC Reef and Rainforest CRC joint program which is developing tools to understand how the land, rivers and sea are linked. These will help resolve debates about human impacts on river water quality and the coastal reef. They will also tell land and water managers whether their strategies to improve the environment are working or not. “We’re looking at indicators of water quality such as nutrient levels, signs of stress in river fish or sea corals, how much sediment is moving and so on,” Prof. Pearson explains. “These not only tell us what’s going on, but they’ll help us target landcare activities to the areas which most need it.” For more information:
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