Signs of coral recovery for the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority scientists say baby corals are blooming on the Great Barrier Reef

GBRMPA and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service have carried out their second inspection of a series of reefs between Townsville and Tully, in the wake of cyclone Yasi.

GBRMPA's Climate Change and Ecosystems Manager Roger Beeden has been heading up the survey and says that the coral bloomings are a positive sign of recovery.

"We are seeing baby corals in some of the shallows and also in some of the deeper areas," he said.

"It is showing that even though it has had multiple impacts in the last few years, it is able to bounce back.

"It has got that natural resilience to recover, provided it doesn't get hit with too many other events."

Mr Beeden says many parts of the reef looked like "moonscapes" when they surveyed after cyclone Yasi.

"Even though coral are animals it was akin to seeing a whole forest knocked down in lots of places," he said.

"That was really, almost heart breaking for many of us to see, and yet two years on we are beginning to see lots of the early signs of recovery."

Mr Beeden says it is not just wind from the cyclones that causes damage to the coral.

"During cyclone Yasi ... there were some monitoring stations that are out on reefs and there was actually mixing in the water down to 200 metres in some places," he said.

"So it was a huge event in terms of moving water around and it is that water movement that caused the damage to about 15 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef."

Mr Beeden says it is good news for fast growing coral, but there are slower growing coral that need more time.

"In the fast growing ones we can begin to see quite good recovery in 5-10 years, but in the really big ones, the kind of huge, great big trees if you like, actually can take decades to centuries to recover," he said.

"What we are seeing now is actually the ones that are 2 or 3 years old, so they are actually the ones that have spawned after cyclone yasi and you can actually visibly see them now on the reef."


http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/12/13/3911244.htm