PROTECT OUR MARINE LIFE: GBR BLEACHING AND BAN ON DUMPING
In October 2015, we fnally saw the practice of dumping millions of tonnes of dredge spoil from industrial developments banned from the waters of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Previously, around 50 million tonnes of mud, rock and sand were set to be dumped in the Reef’s waters to facilitate massive coal and gas developments along the coast.
For more than a century, dumping huge amounts of dredge spoil in Reef waters was the norm, but the joint WWF/Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) Fight for the Reef campaign helped inspire a global campaign that nally ended this outdated and damaging practice. Significant progress was also made to ensure the major industrial Reef ports are constrained to their established footprints, that ports management is at World Heritage standard and that ships which fail seaworthiness or seamanship safeguards are prevented from entering Reef ports.
The importance of taking these actions was reinforced by the catastrophic coral bleaching event that hit the Great Barrier Reef from late February to May 2016. This event was the worst in the Reef’s history and resulted in the death of an estimated 22% of the corals in the GBR World Heritage Area, with the majority of the impact occurring in the northern section, previously the healthiest section of the Reef.