Great Barrier Reef Is In Much Better Shape Than Climate Alarmists Claim, Australian Environment Minister Confirms
By Paul Homewood
From GWPF:
Returning from a snorkelling trip to Moore and Flynn reefs offshore from Cairns, Ms Ley was happy yesterday to broadcast the message that tourism operators desperately want heard around the world.
“Today we saw coral that was struggling but we also saw coral that was coming back, that was growing, that was vibrant,” Ms Ley said.
“We saw amazing wildlife, fish, turtles, clams. We saw a reef teeming with life.
“It gives me heart and hope that the future of this magnificent part of the world is a good one.”
Ms Ley said not everything was perfect and there had been areas that were struggling from the impact of cyclones.
However, she told The Australian conditions were better than she had expected.
How scientists mislead the world about the state of the Great Barrier Reef
“I was expecting to see dead areas with a few patches of life,” Ms Ley said.
“I saw the exact opposite to that.”
Ms Ley has spent three days touring the coastal area around Cairns speaking to farmers, tourism bodies and reef scientists.
She has backed the concerns of all sides and attempted to avoid some of the more bitter areas of dispute.
These include new water quality regulations for Queensland farmers, calls for better quality assurance for reef science and the outsourcing of reef program delivery to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation by the Turnbull government.
The Queensland government has introduced new water quality laws to parliament that will more closely monitor and supervise fertiliser use and nutrient run-off in Great Barrier Reef catchments.
Marine scientist Peter Ridd has begun a speaking tour in Queensland calling for a new body to check the quality of reef research.
Accompanying Ms Ley on the visit this week has been Great Barrier Reef Foundation managing director Anna Marsden.
The GBR Foundation has been given $444 million by the federal government and is expected to raise matching funds from private donors.
The federal opposition had said it would have withdrawn the funding if it won the federal election.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Reblogged this on Climate- Science.press.
“Scientists” have been saying since 1971 that the reef was dying. Happens when grants are being decided, immediately after the gloomy press releases.
In my opinion those “scientists” lay themselves open to claims for damages from tourism operators if customers don’t turn up expecting the GBF to be dead.
Those who do turn up, even those wanting to see it before it dies, report that all is well with the reef. That doesn’t get reported by the BBC-Lite or the ABC as it is usually known as.
If coral reefs in general, or the GBR in particular, were diminishing due to coral bleaching, then this could be tracked either by reduction in the total area of the living reefs or by tracking of areas permanently devoid of living coral. This should be possible with the same satellites that identify possible new bleaching. The improvements in these satellites, along with vastly increased resources on the water to confirm the satellite data, I believe can account for the vastly increased number of observations of bleaching. Lack of a reduction in reef area would confirm this conjecture.
I am so relieved to read this.
During the 1960s, I worked on board construction rigs installing offshore drilling and production platforms in the sparsely populated Persian Gulf. That tiny, warm sea was filled coral life, thriving at the high temperatures. I don’t like to think too much what subsequent mega-city construction has inflicted on marine life; I never witnessed any bleached corals.
During the 1970s-80s, I lived in the Caribbean where I enjoyed snorkelling and I saw many bleached (dead) corals, as well as many lovely reefs. I had little idea about how or why so many were bleached but guessed over-fishing or pollution. Such specialised information was hard to look for in those days.
I can’t comprehend any reason for better informed people than I to lie about the state of the Great Barrier Reef and can only hope that Ms Ley is extremely well informed in her optimism.
Hugh
The conjecture is that global warming is behind increased coral bleaching. My own belief is that it is due to increased and higher quality observations. Prior to 1990 there was few studies of coral bleaching.
The hypothesis is that bleaching results from heat stress, occurring mostly in the summer. I found that much of the GBR has seen little or no rise in average temperatures since 1980 and that the years of high observed coral bleaching did not correspond to excessively warm summer months.
More good news and therefore cannot be true (according to the doomsters like Attenborough et al).
What a change for a minister to actually visit a site in person, and in this case dive on it!
Another approach is to look at what the sea surface temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef have actually been, daily, weekly, monthly. There have been no coral-damaging values…none!
https://seatemperature.info/great-barrier-reef-water-temperature.html
What would really kill the coral would be falling sea levels, that would both expose coral to the air, and expose coral to higher surface water temperatures and storm damage.
What we have, slowly rising sea levels (which coral reef growth rates can easily manage to match) and warmth, could not suit tropical corals better!
Vindication for Peter Ridd.
I seem to recall a post on this blog, about the health of coral in the Gulf of Mexico, being directly correlated to the amount of fertiliser in surface water run off. So I’m glad to see that there are new water quality regulations for Queensland farmers.
For once a government minister does not apr the reports it gets from so-called expert committees but puts on the gear and takes a look. That sure does not replace extensive studies but it’s like with the danger of being in certain countries. You cannot make a valid statement as long as you have not been there in person. I have been in some countries with the highest murders rates worldwide mainly in Africa and I was on my watch but things were not nearly as bad as they were portrayed. people would be well advised to use their own brain rather than repeating others words. Sadly that’s rare. I commend the minister.
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