Fact file: How healthy is the Great Barrier Reef?
The health and sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef has been the subject of much debate, with UNESCO considering listing the world heritage site as in danger.
There are concerns over new industrial and mining developments, dredging, fishing, climate change and pollution.
Managed by the Queensland and federal governments, the reef is one of Australia's best-loved natural attractions, and a significant tourism drawcard.
So how healthy is the reef? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Threats facing the reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. Covering almost 350,000 square kilometres off the coast of Queensland,it is home to 2,900 coral reefs, 1,500 species of fish, 30 species of whales and dolphins and 133 species of sharks and rays.
The 2,300 kilometre reef also shelters sea animals threatened with extinction such as the dugong and multiple species of turtles.
Stretching up to 250 kilometres offshore at its widest, the reef includes shallow inshore waters supporting diverse seagrasses and mangroves, as well as mid-shelf and outer reefs that can extend to depths of more than 2,000 metres.
Protected by a marine park since 1975, the reef received world heritage status in 1981. UNESCO , the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, says it "is of superlative natural beauty above and below the water, and provides some of the most spectacular scenery on earth". It says the reef is "is one of the richest and most complex natural ecosystems on earth, and one of the most significant for biodiversity conservation".
According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a Federal Government agency, the reef faces a number of threats.
They include climate change, which is causing warmer waters and coral bleaching; declining water quality from coastal catchments and flow-on effects of agricultural practices; coastal development; fishing; and extreme weather, including flooding and cyclones.
UNESCO has been considering listing the Great Barrier Reef as a world heritage site in danger since June 2012. A final decision will be made in 2015.
Protecting the reef
Reef targets
In 2003, the federal and Queensland governments adopted the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. The plan was updated in 2009.
It aimed to halt and reverse the decline of water quality entering the reef until it was of a high enough standard to have no detrimental impact.
Targets set in 2009 relating to water quality included:
50 per cent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus loads at the end of catchments by 2013
50 per cent reduction in pesticides at the end of catchments by 2013
50 per cent late dry season groundcover on dry tropical grazing land by 2013
20 per cent reduction in sediment load at the end of catchments by 2020
Targets relating to management practices included:
80 per cent of landholders in agricultural enterprises (sugarcane, horticulture, dairy, cotton and grains) will have adopted improved soil, nutrient and chemical management practices by 2013
50 per cent of landholders in the grazing sector will have adopted improved pasture and riparian management practices by 2013
There will have been no net loss or degradation of natural wetlands by 2013
The condition and extent of riparian areas will have improved by 2013
A new plan with updated targets, Reef Plan 2013, was developed last year.
Risk management
In 2012 the federal government commissioned a strategic assessment to identify and manage risks to the reef in response to a request from UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.
The strategic assessment investigated the adequacy of the existing management arrangements, and assessed development policies that could have any impacts on the reef. It was published on August 12, 2014.
The strategic assessment will be used to inform the Reef 2050 Plan, anAbbott Government initiativebeing developed with the Queensland Government and the marine park authority.
Biodiversity strategy
There is also a Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2013, which aims to identify at-risk habitats and species and reduce the threats and pressures they face.
Many of the projects are collaborations between the state and federal governments and other partners.
Reef report card
In June, the Queensland Government released the Great Barrier Reef Report Card 2012 and 2013 on the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. The report card measured what progress had been made since the 2009 targets set in the water quality protection plan.
It found the immediate goal of halting and reversing the decline in the quality of water entering the reef had been met.
Annual average pollutant loads had been significantly reduced, but overall marine conditions of the inshore reef (including coral, seagrass and water quality) remained poor. Land management practices across agricultural industries also improved but targets that were supposed to be met in 2013 had not actually been met.
Habitat and species health
The federal government's strategic assessment, carried out by the marine park authority, looked more broadly at the health of the reef.
It examined the condition and trends of all species living and migrating through the reef and their habitats, and areas further inland that are associated with the reef's condition.
The assessment "identified overwhelming evidence that a range of threats are continuing to affect inshore habitats along the developed coast, and the species that use these habitats".
The 34 habitats ranged from very good to very poor condition and most were considered stable. Some were deteriorating, and none were improving.
The strategic assessment listed 17 species including corals, seagrasses, sharks and rays, sea snakes, turtles, dolphins and dugongs.
Only crocodile and whale populations were found to be improving. They were among the few examples of populations recovering from past impacts, such as humpback whales that had been affected by commercial whaling. All other species were either stable or in decline.
The assessment also considered environmental factors like sea temperature, ocean acidity, and reef building. None of 21 environmental processes considered by the assessment were improving - they were either stable or in decline.
The marine park authority also released its Outlook Report 2014, which identifies outbreaks of disease in some marine species in recent years, although most were "not recorded on a wider scale". It also identified an increasing number of outbreaks of the damaging crown-of-thorns starfish, and said this is an indicator that the ecosystem's health is declining.
Overall, the report found recovery in the ecosystem was poor, and had deteriorated since the last outlook report in 2009.
It concluded that: "Even with recent management initiatives to reduce threats and improve resilience, the overall outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is poor, has worsened since 2009 and is expected to further deteriorate in the future."
What the experts say
Using the same 2009 baseline levels as Reef Plan 2009, the Newman Government's Reef Plan 2013 set a number of targets for 2018 and updated slightly its long-term goal "to ensure that by 2020 the quality of water entering the reef from broadscale land use has no detrimental impact on the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef".
Water quality research scientist Dr Jon Brodie, from James Cook University, examined the updated targets in Reef Plan 2013 and told Fact Check some of the new targets were lower than the targets set in 2009.
Despite this, experts told Fact Check that there had been some measurable improvements in the quality of water entering the reef from catchments, largely as a result of improvements in agricultural practices.
But spatial information scientist Alana Grech, from Macquarie University, said there is more to the health of the Great Barrier Reef than addressing catchment water quality. Biodiversity factors such as those included in the federal government's strategic assessment are an important indicator of the condition of the reef. "You have to make a quantifiable link between what is happening in the catchments and what's happening in the Great Barrier Reef, where there's been a decline in biodiversity," she said.
What isn't improving
A 2013 report, of which Ms Grechis an author, documents ongoing decline in biodiversity in the region. This includes loss of coral cover and declining populations of dugongs, loggerhead turtles and hawksbill turtles. Weather events have also contributed to large losses of seagrass meadows and mangroves.
The report attributes much of the decline in biodiversity to human activities. Ms Grech identified catchments, port developments and management, urban development and activity, shipping, fishing and climate change as factors that impact biodiversity outcomes to various extents.
In a 2012 article, Dr Brodiesaid research over the last 30 years had established that the factors known to be most responsible for the loss of coral cover were "terrestrial pollution including the link to outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish, fishing impacts and climate change".
Climate change is listed as one of the leading causes of threats to the reef in the Marine Park Authority's outlook report.
Dr Brodie told Fact Check that, in addition to addressing climate change, the most pressing task is to "improve water quality from both agriculture and, increasingly, ports".
Queensland ports
Port development in the reef area has sparked controversy.
The Abbot Point coal terminal expansion project was criticised earlier this year following the marine park authority's January approval for a proposal to dump 3 million cubic metres of dredge spoil within the park. Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has confirmed he is considering a proposal that would see the dredge spoil dumped on land, not into the reef.
In June 2014, the Queensland Government released the Queensland Ports Strategy which restated the government's 2012 commitment to "restrict any significant port development, within and adjoining the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, to within existing port limits until 2022".
In 2011 and 2012 the risks to the reef from Queensland ports were reinforced after a bund wall - a retaining wall specifically designed to contain liquid or other products and prevent spills - in Gladstone Harbour failed.
The bund wall leaked dredge spoil into the reef and the leak coincided with an outbreak of fish disease in the area.
The Queensland government then allocated $4 million over two years to monitor the Gladstone Harbour following an investigation into water quality, fish and human health.
Dredging and the reef
Marine park authority chief executive Russell Reichelt says the Queensland Government placed "47 stringent conditions" on the development approval to allow dredging at Abbot Point, in addition to those already imposed by the Federal Government.
The aim of these conditions is to provide a net benefit for water quality. But in an article published in February, Dr Brodie said that was "likely to be impossible to achieve".
Dr Brodie believes bund walls and longer jetties are more environmentally-friendly alternatives to dredging.
He told Fact Check the Newman Government had chosen "the worst management decision for the Great Barrier Reef out of all the potential options they could have used".
Ms Grech also linked the decline in biodiversity in shipping ports to governments not conducting thorough assessments of the environmental impacts of port developments.
Professor Terry Hughes, director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, is also critical of the dredging.
He says while there have been some improvements in water quality in catchment areas, "those improvements are being [outweighed] by the new permits for dredging".
Professor Hughes says a study published in May showed further evidence of the detrimental impact of ports on the reef.
The study maps levels and movements of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which Professor Hughes described as like a "chemical signature" from coal dust and which are also carcinogenic. It found that PAHs in some areas of the reef are approaching toxic levels.
"This is strong evidence of the scale of impact of coal mining on the Great Barrier Reef," he said.
Two studies published by the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2008 and 2012 point to immediate impacts on seagrass meadows as a result of dredging at the port of Hay Point in 2006. The studies found that seagrass meadows recovered in following years, but not to the state they were in before the dredging.
Senate report
The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee handed down a report into the health of the reef on September 3, 2014, which called for greater protection.
The report drew on many of the same sources already mentioned in this fact file. It concluded: "The committee is deeply concerned that the health of the Great Barrier Reef has declined and appears to be on a continual downward trajectory."
The committee made 29 recommendationsincluding stopping the dumping of dredge spoil into the reef, at least temporarily, and investigating banning the practice altogether.
It also found that climate change is a significant threat to the future health and sustainability of the reef.
But the committee was divided, with Coalition senators dissenting from some key recommendations, including one that recommended the Senate not pass government legislation that would create a "one-stop shop" for environmental approvals.
"The Government's One-Stop Shop will streamline environmental assessment and approval processes by removing duplication between the Australian Government and states and territories. Importantly, this will be achieved while maintaining high environmental standards," the dissenting report says.
The bottom line
The Reef Plan Report Card 2012 and 2013 shows improvements in agricultural land management practices and reductions in pollutants entering the reef, which are positive outcomes for water quality. But in the majority of cases, those improvements were not good enough to meet the targets set in 2009.
Experts agree that there are many other ways to assess the health of the Great Barrier Reef, and many of those indicators, like biodiversity, are in decline and likely to get worse.
Without addressing problems including climate change, species and habitat health and the impact of coal mining and dredging, reef quality is unlikely to improve.
Sources
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority website, Facts about the Great Barrier Reef
Department of the Environment website, The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
UNESCO World Heritage List website, Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Great Barrier Reef outlook report 2014, August 12, 2014
ABC News, UNESCO World Heritage: Great Barrier Reef status still in limbo after years of wrangling, June 18, 2014
UNESCO agenda for World Heritage Committee session June 15 - 25, 2014, State of conservation of World Heritage properties inscribed on the World Heritage List
Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Secretariat website, About Reef Plan
Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Secretariat, Reef water quality protection plan 2009, September 2009
Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Secretariat, Reef water quality protection plan 2013, July 2013
Department of the Environment website, Strategic assessment - Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Great Barrier Reef region strategic assessment: Strategic assessment report, August 12, 2014
Department of the Environment website, The Reef 2050 Plan
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Biodiversity conservation strategy 2013, April 29, 2013
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority website, About the reef
ABC News, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority approves plan to dump Abbot Point spoil, January 31, 2014
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, media release, Strict conditions placed on approval for Abbot Point permit, January 31, 2014
Queensland Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Queensland ports strategy, May 2014
NSW Environment Protection Authority website, Bunding and spill management
ABC News, In pictures: Mystery marine disease off Gladstone, November 9, 2011
Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Secretariat, Reef Plan report card 2012 and 2013, June 2014
Alana Grech and others, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Guiding principles for the improved governance of port and shipping impacts in the Great Barrier Reef, October 15, 2013
Jon Brodie and Jane Waterhouse, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, A critical review of environmental management of the 'not so Great' Barrier Reef, June 1, 2012
Russell Reichelt, The Conversation, Let’s dump Great Barrier Reef dredging myths: authority chief, March 3, 2014
Jon Brodie, The Conversation, There is no need to dump Abbot Point's dredge spoil on the Reef, January 29, 2014
Jon Brodie, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Dredging the Great Barrier Reef: Use and misuse of science, February 1, 2014
Kathryn Burns, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, PAHs in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon reach potentially toxic levels from coal port activities, May 1, 2014
Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Deepwater seagrass dynamics in Hay Point, 2008
Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Port of Hay Point Seagrass Survey, 2012
Australian Government, State Party report on the state of conservation of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (Australia), January 2014
Glenn De'ath and others, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, The 27-year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes, September 5, 2012
Greenpeace, media release, Environment Minister ignores advice on Reef dredging approval, March 1, 2014
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Concerns about dredging, disposal and port developments at Abbot Point, 2013
Greg Hunt MP, Transcript of interview, ABC 612 Brisbane, September 2, 2014
Senate Environment and Communications References Committee Management of the Great Barrier Reef Report, September 3, 2014
