The Cairns Post
Cairns' long-term Great Barrier Reef conservation plan risks being shattered by climate change, dramatically affecting the Far North's tourism and fishing industry, a researcher says.
Up to 95 per cent of reefs recently tested have died, says Dr Josh Cinner, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.
A report Dr Cinner helped write, Conservation Action in a Changing Climate unable to save reefs, assessed how 29 communities in five countries in the West Indian Ocean would cope with climate change. It gauged oceanography, environmental science, sociology and economics and the adaptability of communities to extreme climatic events such as coral bleaching and category 5 cyclones.
He said the report found up to 95 per cent of Seychelles' reefs had been ruined by 1998 coral bleaching, Kenyan reefs were susceptible to bleaching, Tanzanian reefs required more protection while Mauritius and Madagascar reefs were only 1 per cent protected.
Dr Cinner said the Great Barrier Reef had one of the world's leading conservation plans but said it was at risk of being killed if greenhouse gasses were not minimised.
He said the reef's fish also risked dying or relocating under extreme climatic changes and the tourism industry should not become complacent in its lobbying for further conservation funding.
"We need to spend now for the long term viability for the tourism industry here (on the Great Barrier Reef)," Dr Cinner said.
"There is recent rezoning to protect a third of its area for fishing."