Great Barrier Reef may take twenty years to recover from damage
A coal carrier which ran aground and leaked about three tons of oil on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef completely pulverised parts of a shoal and caused damage so severe it could take marine life 20 years to recover, the reef’s chief scientist said today. Initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority found the 755ft (230m) Shen Neng 1 left a scar 1.9 miles (3km) long and up to 820ft (250m) wide along the world’s largest coral reef, said David Wachenfeld, who is co-ordinating the authority’s assessment of the ship’s impact. “We were expecting some fairly severe damage to this location, and our observations to date confirm that expectation,” he said. The Shen Neng 1 slammed into a shoal on April 3, and coral shredded part of its hull, causing a leak of about three tons of oil. That oil was dispersed by chemical sprays and is believed to have caused little or no damage to the reef. The vessel was successfully lifted off the coral reef yesterday after crews spent three days pumping heavy fuel oil from the ship to lighten it. Salvage crews later towed it to an anchorage area near Great Keppel Island, 38 nautical miles (44 miles, 70km) away. Damage to the reef was particularly bad because the vessel did not stay in one place once it grounded, Mr Wachenfeld said. Instead, tides and currents pushed it along the reef, crushing and smearing potentially toxic paint on to coral and plants. In some areas, “all marine life has been completely flattened and the structure of the shoal has been pulverised by the weight of the vessel”, he added. … Perhaps most concerning to the scientists is the chemical make-up of the paint used on the ship’s hull, which divers have found spread across the vast majority of the impacted region. …
