Pollution threatens Great Barrier Reef

2003-02-26 08:15

Sydney - Pollution from farms and other human activities threatens Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living organism, a government agency said on Wednesday.

The coral reef, which attracts vivid tropical fish and thousands of tourists a year to view them, may be being smothered by pollution, the Productivity Commission said in a report on the health of the 2 000km reef along the Queensland coast.

Fertiliser and pesticide use on sugar plantations, as well as land clearing for cattle grazing, had increased chemical and sediment run-offs, said the commission, an advisory agency that reports on economic and social issues.

"Water quality in rivers entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon has declined because of diffuse pollutants, especially sediments, nutrients and chemicals from cropping and grazing lands," the commission said.

"This diffuse pollution threatens inshore reefs and associated ecosystems."

Probable effects from the pollution were reduced growth of coral, an inability to recover from hazards like cyclones, coral being smothered by sediment and unusually high growth rates for other organisms that overgrow coral or support its rivals, the commission said.

It said it was hard to measure in detail the human effect on the reef, one of Australia's main tourism attractions, due to a lack of in-depth information, research and monitoring.

The commission's findings backed other reports in recent months criticising the ecological impact on the reef from farming.

The sugar cane industry, which is centred around the Queensland town of Mackay, has condemned such warnings as a witch hunt and said tourism and urban pollution were just as much to blame.

The industry is one of the main exporters of sugar in the world, shipping A$1.4 billion (about R7 billion) worth overseas in 2001/02.

The Productivity Commission also expressed concern about government drought assistance packages that do not encourage cattle graziers to reduce herd numbers in dry periods.

A continent of just 20 million people but with 100 million sheep and 27 million cattle, Australia has gone through one of the worst droughts in a century. Recent rains have begun to break the "Big Dry" but have arrived too late for most crops.

- Reuters