Great Barrier Reef's 'unprecedented' threat from dredging, dumping

[n2doc]

The Hay Point coal terminal. Photograph: Greenpeace/AAP

The impact of dredging and dumping sediment on the Great Barrier Reef has been far greater than the mining industry has claimed, with nearly 150m tonnes of new dredging set to take place in the reef’s waters, a study shows.

The report collated by the Australian Marine Conservation Society states that the reef is under “unprecedented” threat from the proposed expansion of coastal ports and industrial development.

Planned expansion of ports, or the creation of new ones, at sites including Gladstone, the Fitzroy Delta, Abbot Point and Townsville, would involve dredging 149m tonnes of seabed to allow large ships to access ports.

The society’s report warns that the dredging process is dangerous to marine life. Worse, should this sediment be dumped within the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area, corals and seagrasses would be damaged, impacting animals such as dugongs and sea turtles.

more

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/07/great-barrier-reefs-unprecedented-threat-from-dredging-dumping

[truebrit71]

1. The Great Barrier Reef is a world treasure...how in the world can this be allowed to happen?

Talk about short-sighted....

[GliderGuider]

2. It's all underwater. Out of sight, out of mind.

What's worth more - the economy or a functioning biosphere? Ask any businessman, financier or economist - they'll tell you.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Great Barrier Reef Facing 'Unprecedented' Threat from Coal Expansion

Published on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 by Common Dreams

Great Barrier Reef Facing 'Unprecedented' Threat from Coal Expansion

Report slams Australian government for poor stewardship of the World Heritage site

- Lauren McCauley, staff writer

The Great Barrier Reef is facing "unprecedented industrial development," and the damage wrought by seabed dredging as a result coal industry expansion has been significantly downplayed by the state government and mining industry, a conservation watchdog charged in a new report issued Wednesday.

“The state government is both the owner and the overseer of these dredging projects, which means that it is essentially checking its own homework and giving itself top marks," said Felicity Wishart, campaign director for the Australian Marine Conservation Society which authored the report.

To accommodate the expansion of coal export terminals along the coastline of the UNESCO World Heritage site, an average of nearly one million cubic meters of underwater soil has been dug up within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park each year for the past ten years.

Despite claims by the Australian government that this dredging has not inflicted any damage on the reef, the report—Dredging, Dumping and the Great Barrier Reef (pdf)—found a "deeply troubling" lack of monitoring of coral health. Further, the group uncovered coral "covered with lesions," that were not reported.

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/07-2