<font size="3"color="olive">Seems there's not much can be done to save it: !http://www.hellotravel.com/sites/default/files/great-barrier-reef_0.jpg! AUSTRALIA is losing the war to save the Great Barrier Reef, despite leading the world in environmental management, a leading marine scientist says. Peter Doherty, research director at the Australian Institute of Marine Scientists, says the reef has suffered significant losses of coral, even in the years since the region has been World Heritage listed. "These big actions we have taken certainly justify Australia's claim to have the best management of a large coral reef system," Dr Doherty told reporters at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns on Monday. "But the recent evidence is that we are not winning the war." Dr Doherty told the conference over the last 27 years there has been an "alarming and unsustainable decline" in coral over large sections of the reef. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recently released a report that was highly critical of Australia's management of the Great Barrier Reef. It said the reef could be listed as a World Heritage site in danger unless high-risk coastal developments including new ports in Queensland are shelved. "Full Report":http://www.news.com.au/news/australia-losing-the-war-to-save-reef/story-fnehlez2-1226421775358</font><br>

I used to keep live coral in a reef aquarium.

Incredibly fragile things.

Temperature, salinity, nutrient level etc all very critical.

I wonder if there is any evidence of it moving in any direction, like maybe south?

Peter Doherty says the reef has suffered significant losses of coral, even in the years since the region has been World Heritage listed.

Dr Doherty told the conference over the last 27 years there has been an “alarming and unsustainable decline” in coral over large sections of the reef.
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Disturbance and the Dynamics of Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef (1995–2009)

Kate Osborne Andrew M. Dolman Scott C. Burgess Kerryn A. Johns

Coral reef ecosystems worldwide are under pressure from chronic and acute stressors that threaten their continued existence. Most obvious among changes to reefs is loss of hard coral cover, but a precise multi-scale estimate of coral cover dynamics for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is currently lacking. Monitoring data collected annually from fixed sites at 47 reefs across 1300 km of the GBR indicate that overall regional coral cover was stable (averaging 29% and ranging from 23% to 33% cover across years) with no net decline between 1995 and 2009. Subregional trends (10–100 km) in hard coral were diverse with some being very dynamic and others changing little. Coral cover increased in six subregions and decreased in seven subregions. Persistent decline of corals occurred in one subregion for hard coral and Acroporidae and in four subregions in non-Acroporidae families. Change in Acroporidae accounted for 68% of change in hard coral. Crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) outbreaks and storm damage were responsible for more coral loss during this period than either bleaching or disease despite two mass bleaching events and an increase in the incidence of coral disease. While the limited data for the GBR prior to the 1980’s suggests that coral cover was higher than in our survey, we found no evidence of consistent, system-wide decline in coral cover since 1995. Instead, fluctuations in coral cover at subregional scales (10–100 km), driven mostly by changes in fast-growing Acroporidae, occurred as a result of localized disturbance events and subsequent recovery.