Pearls and Irritations

The top scientific body that monitors the world’s tropical coral reefs, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has warned that “We are literally sitting on the cusp of the worst bleaching event in the history of the planet.”

Dr Derek Manzello, Coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Watch Program, told Reuters that “It’s looking like the entirety of the Southern Hemisphere is probably going to bleach this year.”

Last summer the Northern Hemisphere experienced some of the worst mass coral bleaching and mortality in recorded history. The level of heat stress and mortality was so severe that NOAA was forced to update its Global Alert System.

The system is based on daily global satellite monitoring of Sea Surface Temperature (SST). When the SST is 1 degree above the maximum monthly mean for 1 week, NOAA refers to this as 1 Degree Heating Week.

After 4-Degree Heating Weeks reef-wide coral bleaching is expected (Alert Level 1). After 8 Degree Heating Weeks, there is a risk of reef-wide mortality of heat sensitive corals (Alert Level 2).

After the last Northern Hemisphere summer, NOAA introduced 3 more alert levels given the severity of heat stress particularly in the Caribbean.

Alert Level 3 (after 12 Degree Heating Weeks) signifies a risk of multiple species mortality. Alert Level 4 (after 16 Degree Heating Weeks) signifies a risk of severe, multi-species mortality (more than 50% of corals). Alert Level 5 (after 20 Degree Heating Weeks) signifies a risk of near complete mortality (more than 80% of corals).

Last year reefs in Florida Keys experienced 22 Degree Heating Weeks, a catastrophic level of heating.

The Great Barrier Reef is now experiencing a severe coral bleaching event. By 5 March, the southern Great Barrier Reef had experienced 14 Degree Heating Weeks. In 2016 during the severe coral bleaching event that hit the far northern Great Barrier Reef the hardest, corals experienced 15 Degree Heating Weeks. The 2016 event resulted in the mortality of 29% of corals in the Great Barrier Reef.

In late February, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) carried out aerial surveys over the southern region of the Marine Park. They found extensive coral bleaching.

AIMS scientist Dr Neal Cantin said “We were able to see bleached corals at depth quite clearly across the reef slope from the air.”

AIMS and GBRMPA are now carrying out in-water and aerial surveys across the entire Great Barrier Reef, as reports of bleaching have come in from all other regions of the Marine Park.

Severe heat stress is occurring in other tropical coral reefs in eastern Australia – in the Coral Sea Marine Park between the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia, in Moreton Bay, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. The unique and isolated coral atolls in the Coral Sea Marine Park are all at 14 Degree Heating Weeks, risking multiple species death.

The world’s coral reefs are in crisis. Coral reef scientists and others have been raising the alarm for decades. There are alarm bells going off across the globe. The annual global mean temperature for the 12 months to January 2024 was the highest on record: 1.52 °C above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial average. Currently, global sea surface temperature is the highest in recorded history. On 26 February, CO2 levels at the Mauna Loa Observatory reached 425ppm, a full 75 ppm beyond the safe level of 350ppm.

Coral reefs are more than beautiful underwater seascapes. One quarter of the world’s marine species live in coral reefs or use their habitats for part of their life cycle. We are on a trajectory to lose them or, at a minimum, lose vast proportions of them. This is a grave intergenerational injustice.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority recently responded to the coral/climate emergency by releasing an updated climate change position statement. The Authority’s first statement released in 2019 stated that limiting the increase in global average temperature to 1.5°C and ideally less, is critical to minimise significant environmental and societal costs from the loss of reef habitats.

A draft of the updated version included the following: “Crucially, plans to develop or expand fossil fuel projects are incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C, required to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis (IPCC 2022 Mitigation of CC).” The final version removed all reference to fossil fuels.

The 2019 statements says that the “Authority recognises the scale and challenges associated with global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the transformative policy and cooperation required across multiple levels of government, both nationally and internationally.”

The updated statement removes any reference to “national action”, instead focusing on the need for global and individual action. Indeed, its focus is on what individuals can do: it encourages individuals to reduce emissions through daily choices and to be a conscious consumer, when purchasing or investing.

While there is no question that everyone must take action, it is breathtaking that the need for national action has been removed along with any reference to fossil fuels. One would think we are still living under a Morrison Government.

If the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is unwilling to speak without fear or favour about the need for urgent national action to stop new fossil fuel development to save at least some of the world’s greatest living organism, then who will? Where is the leadership?

In a time of continuous global crisis, the coral reef crisis may not be at the top of the agenda. But people living now, and in the future, will not forgive the leaders of today, in politics, in government and in industry, for failing to speak out and, where they have the power, to stop the development of fuels that kill.

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