The Great Barrier is currently on its way to being destroyed; this will have a big impact on Australia’s economy and sea life. People all around Australia, are trying save the sea life and it’s surroundings of coral, sea weed and homes for the sea creatures. One of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef is climate change, the water quality is declining and the Crown of Thorns Starfish. With these threats the Great Barrier Reef will loose all of its corals and it will need all of the help it can get to for it to be back to the same way it thirty years ago.

If the temperature of the sea around the Reef rises by even one degree it will kill most corals, which will damage the whole eco-system in the area and Australia’s economy and this is an adversity.
The Great Barrier Reef relies a lot on the shallow warm water of northeast Australia and because of climate change, and the world getting hotter, the water is too. With the coral in the reef being very used to the temperature of the water it will die very fast if the temperature drops or rises by the smallest amount. Even the fish in this part of the ocean are very used to the waters and so they will die. Everyone in the world is trying to help with climate change side of things but it isn’t getting any better. This poses a long-term threat to the Great Barrier Reef.

Chemicals going into the rivers that feed the Great Barrier Reef have also been destroying most of the corals. If the run-off doesn’t stop then the Reef will loose most of its corals and if it looses all of its life then the fish and all the people living/visiting will leave. If no people go to visit the Great Barrier Reef then some of Australia’s economy will decrease by a lot.
Fertilizes, Pesticides, oil and bits of rubbish run into the Great Barrier Reef where they can threaten plants and animals in the area. The excessive development of the land around the rivers that feed into the great barrier reef lagoon create a lot of the land pollution going into the reef and mining causes a just as much. The oil is extremely bad for the Great Barrier Reef because it drowns out the sun that the Reef and its inhabitants need so much. The fertilisers and pesticides decrease the water quality and make it very bad environment for all of the inhabitants of the reef and if anyone is scuba diving in the reef.

The People living in the area of the Great Barrier Reef and many governments are working together to improve the water quality of the reef with The Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. The water quality protection plan was launched in 2003 and includes finding waterways that flow into the reef and protecting them from pollutants. It also means all of the wetlands and riparian that are cleaning the waters and making them protected so there cannot be any land development close to them. They have been finding areas that create a lot of sediments and pesticides and stopping movements that create unwanted nutrients, pesticides and other harmful chemicals. If the water becomes cleaner then nearly half of the reef will stay healthy and this will be a triumph over diversity.

The crown of thorns starfish is a major threat to all of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef because of its diet. The Crown of Thorns starfish eats a lot of tubular and hard corals found inside the reef and so with a most of the corals gone then the fish will leave due to the lack of shelter and food. The Crown of Thorns is a large starfish that eats a lot of coral. It lives in all coral reefs and a female Crown of Thorns can release up to 60 thousand eggs at once so the numbers are certainly increasing. With the predator of the Starfish decreasing in numbers, the Crown of Thorns is able to roam around the Great Barrier Reef eating away a portion of the corals. The Starfish has millions of suction cups on the underneath of its legs so it is able to reach almost every coral. It thrives in waters that have run-off chemicals, which makes it more active.

The main problem is the diet of the Crown of thorns is that it eats corals and can reach nearly all reefs and ledges. If there is a lack of coral reefs the fish inhabiting it will move to another area with more shelter to provide protection from predators. This is a problem because if there are no fish and no corals then less tourists with scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef and  the tourism industry in Queensland will suffer in If there is an outbreak of Crown of Thorns Starfish, then there will be a massive competition for food and there can be many starfish in one square metre. When these outs breaks occur then the starfish will start to eat corals that they usually will not touch.
If the Crown of Thorns Starfish is not controlled then more then 20% of the Great Barrier Reef will be consumed and so with many scientists, activist groups and governments trying to bring the Crown of Thorns predator back to its original numbers the Starfish will have large problems eating most of the Reef.

The adversity of Great Barrier Reef is that it is being attacked from all different angles but if all of these problems get addressed and resolved the Reef will certainly live and that will be the triumph. The Bleaching of the coral from Climate change will eventually become an annual occurrence if climate change doesn’t come to a stop. With all of the chemicals coming from the run-offs of the urban areas the ocean quality around the Great Barrier Reef will decrease until it is stopped. The Crown of Thorns Starfish population has to be reduced otherwise the fight for food will become so great they will eat everything and the reef ill not have time to rejuvenate and all the fish will leave.
The Great Barrier Reef has to be saved and with many people trying to save it, it will be able to thrive again and it will be a Triumph over Diversity.

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