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Great Barrier Reef needs more protection
21/08/2001 12:13 - (SA)
Brisbane - An international environmental watchdog warned on Tuesday that Australia was not doing enough to protect the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) spokesperson Simon Cripps said
sediment pollution, fishing, climate changes and the potential for nearby oil drilling were major threats to the 2 000 kilometre
(1 240 mile) long coral reef that stretches along Australia's
northeast coast.
Forty members of the WWF's International Endangered Seas Programme are meeting this week in Townsville, northern Australia, to discuss global marine conservation.
Cripps, a marine expert based at the WWF's Geneva headquarters,
said Australia allowed bottom-trawling in 50 percent of the reef - which is a protected national park.
Bottom trawling is where fishing ships drag nets which scrape along the seabed.
"This damages the sea floor and destroys marine life vital to the
reef's survival," Cripps said, adding that the WWF wanted this type of fishing completely phased out by 2007.
"The Great Barrier Reef is extensive but fragile and it needs a
large network of fully protected areas to survive," Cripps said.
He said recent satellite photographs show dramatic evidence of
sediment pollution from coastal rivers which smother sections of
the reef.
Cripps said with coral reefs around the world under threat,
Australia had the "once in a lifetime opportunity" to establish a
global benchmark for tropical marine conservation.
WWF members from 20 countries attending the Townsville meeting
would make recommendations to the federal and Queensland
governments on how to bolster protection for the reef, Cripps said.-AP
- SAPA
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