Great Barrier Reef tourism boss blame scientists for slump in visitor numbers

Monday, January 15, 2018

Research and study about the Great Barrier Reef’s coral bleaching has been in the news since last year. Now the head of the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, Col McKenzie has sent a written request to the federal government asking it to stop funding the work of Professor Terry Hughes claiming that his ‘comments’ is damaging the tourism industry.

Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators is a group that represents more than 100 businesses in the Great Barrier Reef and has blamed the professor for causing a downturn in the tourism growth at Queensland’s greatest natural asset.

However, the Australian Conservation Foundation said tourism representatives and operators like McKenzie should stop blaming scientists for reporting what was happening to the reef and start targeting major polluters to ensure change. Hughes is considered one of the leading experts on the reef and has been warning about the rising water temperature for years.

While not disagreeing there was work to be done on the reef’s health, McKenzie accused Hughes of exaggerating the damage, which he said has been detrimental to the region’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry. The CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O’Shanassy, said too much was at stake for tourism operators to blame scientists for what was actually happening to the reef and the real problem, climate change, had to be addressed. It is not the scientists who should be blamed but the big polluters and their political allies should take the blame, she added.

Report from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority found that the world heritage site has experienced “multiple significant impacts” over the past two years, including “severe coral bleaching, outbreaks of coral disease and crown-of-thorns starfish, and a severe tropical cyclone and subsequent flood plumes”.

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