SYDNEY, (MILLAT ONLINE/APP/AFP) – Mass coral bleaching
on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could cost the region more than one million tourists a year and up to Aus$1.0 billion (US$760 million) in lost revenue, a study warned Wednesday.
Scientists said this week that coral bleached for two consecutive
years at the World Heritage-listed site had “zero prospect” of recovery after researchers detected another round of mass bleaching due to warming sea temperatures.
In a new study, Australia’s independent Climate Council said that
further damage to the 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long reef could severely affect tourism prospects and cost around 10,000 jobs.
“This isn’t just an environmental issue. The Great Barrier Reef is
one of Australia’s greatest economic assets,” said the council’s Lesley Hughes.
“It’s responsible for bringing in more than Aus$7.0 billion each year
to our economy, while also supporting the livelihoods of around 70,000 people.”
Even if parts of the reef hurt by bleaching bounce back, scientists
say it could take up to a decade for even the fastest growing corals to recover.
“If coral bleaching persists, tourism areas adjacent to the Great
Barrier Reef risk declines… from 2.8 million visitors (2015 figures) to around 1.7 million per year,” the study said, citing analysis by the Australia Institute think-tank.
“This is the equivalent of more than Aus$1 billion in tourism
expenditure, which supports around 10,000 tourism jobs in regional Queensland.”
The reef is experiencing its fourth mass bleaching — where stressed
corals expel the algae that live in their tissue and provide them with food — after previous events in 1998, 2002 and 2016.
It is also under pressure from farming run-off, development and the
crown-of-thorns starfish.