Australian Barrier Reef faces chemical threat: WWF - Reuters

[Eugene]

Australian Barrier Reef faces chemical threat: WWF
Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:14AM EDT

By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef, already threatened
by climate change, faces a new danger from farm chemical run-off which
may accelerate its destruction, environmentalists said on Thursday.

Climate scientists have already warned that the 2,300 kilometers (1,400
miles) coral reef -- the world's largest living structure -- could be
functionally extinct by 2050 due to global warming, taking with it a
A$5.8 billion ($4.5 billion) tourist industry.

But the reef was actually facing a twin threat, with chemical run-off
from farms along the coast of Queensland state threatening to trigger
an attack by predatory Crown-of-Thorns starfish, who thrive on farm
waste, the environment watchdog WWF said in a report.

"It is reducing the reef's resilience to climate change. The risk is farm
pollution will feed another outbreak of this invasive species, which
devastates reefs and can halve coral cover," WWF water expert Nick
Heath told Reuters.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSSYD356320070322