The Great Barrier Dumping Reef

Image by greatbarrierreef.org.uk

In an age of increasing awareness of global environmental issues, the Great Barrier Reef is at risk of being labelled ‘in danger’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) due to ongoing dredging and dumping that is damaging and destroying coral and seagrass.

According to the ‘Fight for the Reef’ campaign, millions of tons of seabed is due to be dredged from the Great Barrier Reef in order to enable bulk carriers such as coal and gas to access ports. Dredging the seabed will result in the destruction of one of the world’s largest organisms, directly impacting the coral and seagrass; fine sediments from the dredging process can travel hundreds of kilometres and cover the reef’s plant life with rocks, sand and clay. A World First study in 2014 also found that dredging has a long-term impact on coral, with diseases such as white syndrome being more than doubled.

The reef’s wildlife is also impacted. A major dredging operation in 2010 allegedly saw the deaths of dugongs, turtles and diseased fish in the area. The impact of this operation alone reached beyond the environmental, with local fishing businesses suffering as a result of the consequential fishing ban.

An amendment to the marine park’s regulations approved by Greg Hunt, the federal environment minister, proposes to ban capital dredge spoil from being dumped in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The amendment does not, however, apply to the reef’s whole world heritage area. Since 2010, 80% of dredge spoil has been dumped outside of the Marine Park area. While not breaching legal terms of the amendment, these actions contradict the environmental aims of Hunt’s ban. It is on this principle primarily that Unesco have threatened to put the reef on its endangered list.

The Great Barrier Reef is still wholly unprotected from the impact of dredging and dumping. The 3,45,000 square kilometres of the marine park are safe from the actions of bulk carriers, but not from the consequences. Australia has the power to protect the entire World Heritage Site, but the fact that 80% of the dredge spoils are still being dumped outside of the park demonstrates that a holistic approach to the protection of the site is not a high priority for the country. 3,45,000 square kilometres of protection is a start, but the government has a long way to go if they wish to protect a popular tourist attraction, a sanctuary for wildlife, and one of the world’s largest organisms.

First published on The Global Panorama.