Two -thirds of the Great Barrier Reef Australia showed the largest number of coral cover in 36 years, but the reef remained vulnerable to mass bleaching which was increasingly frequent, an official long -term monitoring program reported on Thursday. Recovery on the reefs listed in the middle and north of the UNESCO world in the southern region, where there is a loss of coral cover due to the crown star outbreak, said the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS), said the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS ) Australian in his annual report.
“This shows how vulnerable the reef to the acute and severe disturbance that is more often and more durable,” said executive chief Aims Paul Hardisty in a statement. This report arises when UNESCO considers whether to include Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”, after a visit by UNESCO experts in March. The meeting of the World Heritage Committee where the fate of the reef is on the agenda will be held in Russia in June but is postponed.
In the main measure of the health of the reef, AIM defines the Hard Coral Cover of more than 30% as a high value, based on its long -term survey of the reef. In the northern region, the average hard coral cover grew up to 36 percent in 2022 from low 13 percent in 2017, while in the middle region of hard coral cover increased to 33 percent from low 12 percent in 2019 – the highest level recorded for the two regions since The institute began to monitor reefs in 1985.
But in the southern region, which generally has a higher coral cover than the other two regions, the cover fell to 34 percent in 2022 from 38 percent of the previous year. Recovery occurred after the fourth mass bleaching in seven years and the first during the A La Nina event, but Hardisty said that temporarily, bleaching in 2020 and 2022 did not damage as in 2016 and 2017.
“This latest result shows that the reef can still recover in periods that are free from strong disturbances,” Hardisty said. On the lower side, the growth of the cover has been driven by the acropora coral, Yang Aims said that it was very vulnerable to damage to waves, heat stress and the crown starfish. “This means that a large increase in hard coral cover can be quickly negotiated by a disorder of the reef where the coral acropora dominates,” said Aims Mike Emslie’s monitoring program leader.
