Ningaloo and Bleaching Events

Submitted by:

A Charter fishing operator (Western Australia)

QUESTION

Is Ningaloo resilient enough to withstand yearly bleaching events?

ANSWER 1

By: Dr Kate Quigley

No, it is unlikely that any reef, even a relatively isolated one like Ningaloo Reef, is resilient enough to survive yearly bleaching and the associated mortality. Following a severe marine heatwave, bleaching can result in extensive coral death, which is the core threat of these events.

Yearly stress gives the reef no time to heal. Because corals need many years to grow back after severe damage, annual heat stress would quickly outpace their potential recovery. Without time to rebuild, the ecosystem begins to degrade, making it even harder to recover from each subsequent blow.

Modelling shows that even two major damage events over a 10-year period would have severe consequences for Ningaloo, let alone annual occurrences.

Scientists are studying how these impacts to coral reefs affect the broader ecosystem, and the fisheries that they sustain.

Check out this video by the BBC about coral bleaching at Ningaloo here.