The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s most vast coral reef ecosystem and a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage site.
The reef extends between 15 kilometres and 150 kilometres off shore and around 65 kilometres wide in certain areas. It is an impressive gathering of eye-catching and picturesque coral that presents divers with the most remarkable underwater experience imaginable.
However, the reef currently finds itself in dire straits. According to a report by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, 93% of the reef is currently affected by bleaching, which puts the reef in danger of extinction.
Bleaching is a process that transpires when coral are put under severe stress by transformations in conditions such as temperature, light or nutrients. In these conditions, coral excrete symbiotic algae from their tissues and this causes them to turn white.
Coral bleaching, mining, fishing and the burning fossil fuels are among the contributing factors that are currently destroying the reef.