Coral bleaching study discovers 'shocking' damage on Queensland’s One Tree Island

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A highly protected island off central Queensland is known for some of the best coral cover on the great barrier reef. But almost a year on from a mass coral bleaching event. A team of researchers is assessing its recovery with mixed results.

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00:00These researchers are getting ready to dive into the pristine waters on the Southern Great

00:08Barrier Reef, but they're worried about the extent of coral bleaching they'll see.

00:14This is my third time here over the course of this event this year, so I hate to say

00:18we're getting numb to it, but we kind of expected it, probably more than when we first came.

00:22One Tree Island is a remote research station 100 kilometres off the central Queensland

00:28coast. Warmer than average ocean temperatures last summer caused widespread damage. It's

00:35estimated more than 50% of the coral has died here.

00:39It was pretty, I guess, shocking to go back out there and see the amount of coral death

00:44that we've had.

00:45We've only done two dives, but I'm sure we're going to see more of the same, just a lot

00:49of mortality.

00:50But there have been some small areas of recovery.

00:54One big moment was a Porites Bomby that's just right off the station here. It's a really

00:59big, beautiful type of coral that's huge and it's full of fish. When we went to that site

01:04I was so nervous because I was like, oh, please, please let that thing be OK, and it was actually.

01:08The team is making 3D maps of this part of the reef to monitor its health.

01:14We can track the colonies through time and actually see all those colonies, what was

01:19their fate through this bleaching event.

01:21This tiny island is one of only two parts of the Great Barrier Reef, which is an orange

01:26zone, meaning it can only be accessed for education and research purposes and is a no-go

01:31zone for tourists.

01:33So far out from everything, which is what makes it so special.

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