Great Barrier Reef Marine Park under threat.

[Guest Guest66881]

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has approved a proposal to dump dredge spoil from the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion in the marine park area.

Three million cubic metres of spoil must be dredged as part of the project at Bowen in North Queensland green-lighted by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt last month.

Scientists and conservation lobbyists had urged the Authority to reject the expansion, with 233 signing a letter to chairman Russell Reichelt that said: "The best available science makes it very clear that expansion of the port at Abbot Point will have detrimental effects on the Great Barrier Reef. Sediment from dredging can smother corals and seagrasses and expose them to poisons and elevated nutrients."

Greenpeace warns that any dumping of dredge spoil on the World Heritage-listed reef will be an "international embarrassment" and akin to "dumping rubbish in the Grand Canyon".

"We wouldn't throw rubbish on World Heritage sites like the Grand Canyon or the Vatican City, so why would we dump on the reef?" spokeswoman Louise Matthiesson said.

"Scientists are clear that the potential impacts of dumping the dredge spoil so close to fringing reefs and the WWII Catalina plane wreck are significant."

The reef already faced pressures from climate change, land-based pollution and crown of thorns starfish outbreaks, she added.

 

http://au.news.yahoo.com/qld/a/21194559/great-barrier-reef-marine-park-authority-approves-plan-to-dump-abbot-point-spoil/

[flybyknight]

The reef already faced pressures from climate change, land-based pollution and crown of thorns starfish outbreaks, she added.

 

well there you go, an acceptance that it's already boned. it's kinda ironic that they mention global warming as a threat, how can it be a threat if it doesn't exist mr abbott?

not all bad though eh! sell the coal quick before the demand dries up.

makes you wonder how they sleep at night.