Great Barrier Reef Has Undergone Its 6th Mass Bleaching In Nine Years; 2024-25 Summers Were 2nd Back-To-Back Bleachings
The Great Barrier Reef was hit by a sixth widespread coral bleaching event since 2016 this summer – the second time the world’s biggest coral reef has seen the phenomenon strike in back-to-back years – according to government authorities. Scientists and conservationists reacted with dismay that widespread bleaching – driven by global heating – was becoming normalised, with one saying Australia’s next term of government may be the natural wonder’s last shot at survival.
“It’s awful,” said Prof Tracy Ainsworth, of the University of New South Wales and vice-president of the International Coral Reef Society. “The impact to the reef of these consecutive and severe bleaching events now for a decade is fundamentally changing nature and the reef ecosystem.”
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority released an update on Wednesday saying data suggested the reef had experienced “widespread coral bleaching” across the north and far north. “This event is the sixth since 2016 and, while less extensive than the coral bleaching event in 2023–24, it is the second time the reef has experienced widespread bleaching events across consecutive summers,” the update said.
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Bleaching at Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef has been part of the ongoing fourth global mass bleaching event that has hit 83% of the planets coral reefs across at least 82 countries and territories between 1 January 2023 and 10 April, according to US government data. Prof Morgan Pratchett, a coral reef expert at James Cook University in Townsville, said: “Bleaching is prevalent now nearly every year. People are just not impacted by it as they used to be because it’s become the new normal and it doesn’t resonate the way it used to. “The biggest cause of coral mortality is climate change. From a triage perspective, that’s where we have to start. These impacts will keep getting worse until we do something serious about it.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/16/australias-next-government-may-be-great-barrier-reefs-last-chance-after-sixth-mass-bleaching-conservationist-says