[Coral-List] Dredging on the Great Barrier Reef

[frahome at yahoo.com]

I am flabbergasted too (I learned a new word in English) by how things are going in Australia.

Well, actually it's not true, I am not surprised. Everything seems in line with the current economic, political and social paradigm as I keep stressing in my posts (just dug out a couple of them from the archive, same old story...)
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/pipermail/coral-list/2011-November/010719.html
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/pipermail/coral-list/2011-May/009913.html

I read that  pressured by the uncomfortable lawsuits they needed to deal with, the consortium has recently withdrawn the plan of dumping the sediments in the sea and is looking for a location on land. If it's true this move probably aims to make believe all the problems linked to the project will be solved while obviously they aren't (the dredging will still occur, the land sites will be negatively affected by the mining and the dumping, truck and ship traffic will increase, and overall the coal will be extracted and burned etc…)


Anyway I guess we can consider ourselves lucky the coal is not located right under the GBR.

Francesca



________________________________
 From: "Hughes, Terry" <terry.hughes at jcu.edu.au>
To: "'coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov'" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> 
Sent: Monday, September 1, 2014 9:35 AM
Subject: [Coral-List] Dredging on the Great Barrier Reef
 

Dear Coral-List,



The Australian national broadcaster (equivalent to PBS) has produced a very good 45min TV program on the threat of dredging and coal mining to the Great Barrier Reef, which you can view online  at

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/08/18/4067593.htm



The program interviews scientists, reef managers, tourist operators, fishers, etc. It also features the government Minister who recently issued the permits to open huge new coal mines in Queensland and dump dredge spoil at sea within the GBR World Heritage Area, despite protests by UNESCO.



You might also want to check out two related commentaries

https://theconversation.com/mounting-evidence-shows-dredge-spoil-threat-to-the-great-barrier-reef-29773

https://theconversation.com/reef-condition-is-poor-and-probably-worse-than-healthcheck-suggests-30508


Cheers, Terry

Professor Terry Hughes FAA
Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia

Link to Terry Hughes Google Scholar profile<http://scholar.google.com..au/citations?user=MhJ2LfsAAAAJ>

Email: terry.hughes at jcu.edu.au<mailto:terry.hughes at jcu.edu.au>
Twitter:  @ProfTerryHughes

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