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Earth Australia Science

Australia's Great Barrier Reef Showing 'Signs of Recovery' (stuff.co.nz) 50

Australia's Great Barrier Reef appears to be showing signs of recovery after a massive coral bleaching event in 2016 and 2017. Stuff.co.nz reports: The nonprofit Reef & Rainforest Research Centre has reported signs of recovery due to a milder 2017-18 summer, as well as cooperation among science, industry, and government in supporting the reef's recovery, according to the report issued on Wednesday by the Queensland State Government. The RRRC, in cooperation with the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, conducted detailed surveys at key tourism dive sites around the city of Cairns in 2016 and 2017 and says certain reefs that were strongly affected in the bleaching event are showing significant signs of improvement.

Coral bleaching occurs in multiple stages, according to RRRC Managing Director Sheriden Morris, ranging from the equivalent of a mild sunburn to coral mortality. "When a reef is reported as 'bleached' in the media, that often leaves out a critical detail on how severe that bleaching is, at what depth the bleaching has occurred and if it's going to cause permanent damage to the coral at that site," Morris said in the statement, adding that the Barrier Reef "has significant capacity to recover from health impacts like bleaching events." Reports that the entire reef is dead due to severe bleaching are "blatantly untrue," Morris said. Still, he warns that the recovery is "contingent on environmental conditions" and that the reef "may suffer further bleaching events as the climate continues to warm."

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Australia's Great Barrier Reef Showing 'Signs of Recovery'

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  • 2014-2016 El Nino? (Score:3, Informative)

    by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Thursday September 13, 2018 @10:25PM (#57311274) Journal
    LOTS of hot water from that super El Nino (largest since 1998), and the temperatures have dropped dramatically since then... Not really a surprise.
    • and the temperatures have dropped dramatically since then.

      What?
      https://climate.nasa.gov/news/... [nasa.gov]
      https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc... [noaa.gov]
      https://edition.cnn.com/2018/0... [cnn.com]
      http://www.climatecentral.org/... [climatecentral.org]
      https://www.co2.earth/global-w... [www.co2.earth]

      Yes, I know... CNN is liberal fake news and NASA has also been infiltrated by liberals, as has been the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration... or any scientific organization for that matter.

      • CNN isn't liberal, they're leftist. There's a difference. Liberals believe in free speech. Leftists will happily censor you. You're right about the fake news part though, CNN has been caught lying so many times that they're no longer credible.
        • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

          CNN isn't liberal, they're leftist.

          Don't be ridiculous, CNN is centrist or centre-right on the world political spectrum.

          • The only ones doing any censorship are the Left. The Right is firmly in favor of free speech. You know, Enlightenment values, the ones the Left rejected as racist and sexist.
            • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

              The only ones doing any censorship are the Left. The Right is firmly in favor of free speech. You know, Enlightenment values, the ones the Left rejected as racist and sexist.

              CNN is nothing to do with the Left. It's Centrist or slightly to the right of it. And it's not about Left and Right anyway, it's about liberalism and illiberalism (in the classical sense). Many of those on the Left do not reject Enlightenment values, and some do. Ditto on the Right. I'm very much in favour of freedom of speech, yet I am not politically right wing.

              If we look at the UK, then in the 1980s we had the infamous Clause 28, which the right wing government introduced, and which sought to censor spee

              • You don't know the arguments, do you? You call yourself educated? The Enlightenment legacy can be seen all around us: individualism, international commerce and trade, moral cosmopolitanism, freedom of the press and a culture of publicity, technological modernity, the valorization of expertise, and on and on. All of these are bogeymen to the Left and they wish to free our society from their oppression.

                The concept of "race" was birthed by the Enlightenment. Before that, there wasn't any racism, just Christia

                • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

                  You don't know the arguments, do you?

                  I do, but I seem to have a different opinion to you. This, I am allowed to have. Personally, I think you are wrong, but you are also allowed to have that opinion.

                • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

                  The concept of "race" was birthed by the Enlightenment. Before that, there wasn't any racism, just Christians and heathens.

                  Do you honestly believe that? If you do, I am utterly baffled. That people had particular views of entire groups of people, and based on characteristics such as their skin, is attested to in ancient writings that predate Christianity.

                • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

                  The entire idea behind today's Left-wing thought is that there is no objective truth, only differing points of view, all equally valid.

                  No. I have literally no idea where you get that concept from. In fact one of my criticisms on the left (which others have made on slashdot) is absolutism, which is the antithesis of what you propose. Your views are so far from what I have experienced I am again utterly baffled.

  • Watch this news being used to spin that the politicians solved the problem and it's all good now. Please ignore the half billion dollars they handed out with no tender, see it was totally a good idea, it fixed the reef before they even spent it!

  • Please tell me it's still okay!

  • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday September 14, 2018 @03:49AM (#57312084)

    The RRRC has been the recipient of many millions of dollars of government funding. Much of this has been sqandered on wasteful programs ranging from pointless sub and sub sub contracting of maintaining the reef to tour boat operators to the downright absurd such as installing giant fans underwater to mix the deep cold water with warm surface water and average everything out.

    The RRRC is constantly at odds with scientists who study the reef and also have maintaining commercial tourism in their primary remit. It should come as no surprise that they are giving a rosy outlook despite what many scientists say.

  • I wonder what the next global panic event will be, that the media decides to blow totally out of proportion. I mean, in the US, the media is undoubtedly cursing Hurricane Florence for no longer being a proper hurricane, but just a strong storm. They'll still find some idiot in his beach house, and splash it all over the news - that will keep them occupied for a couple of weeks. After that, what's next? /s

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