"This is NOT a normal condition on reefs, even bleached reefs.
The warming and acidification of oceans is bleaching coral reefs and changing fish species distribution, which means fisherman can no longer rely on their primary resource.
Climate change is projected to expand the range of suitable habitat for the organisms that cause ciguatera by expanding the range of warm SSTs and bleaching coral reefs (Moore et al. 2008).
A combination of fossil-fuel-driven global warming and El Niño saw the reef's water temperatures skyrocket, which caused the worst mass coral bleaching the reef had ever faced.
The government is risking a fail on their reef homework by underfunding their Reef Plan, delaying water quality targets, spruiking new coal and ignoring global warming after the worst coral bleaching the reef has ever seen.
Earth in 2017 also experienced a record low maximum extent of sea ice in the Arctic, the continuation of an "unprecedented multiyear coral reef bleaching" event that decimated reefs around the world, and devastating extreme weather, including cyclones and wildfires.
With the Paris COP21 climate negotiations happening now, media are broadcasting startling pictures of Earth's degradation: retreating glaciers, shrinking lakes, brown forests, bleached coral reefs, smoggy skies.
In mid-January 2017, it is warned that if the present rate of fossil fuel burning will not be checked and continue, it can lead to severe bleaching of coral reefs and will hit about 99% of coral reefs bleaching in each upcoming year.
With no real sign of recovery after bleaching in Caribbean reefs [16], these repeated events are likely to have caused reef decline that will extend beyond our lifetimes.
Global climate change means more bleaching, more dead reefs, and more ocean acidification that will severely inhibit growth of the coral skeletons that build reefs.
