Divers Report Widespread Bleaching In Western Australia's Ningaloo Coral Reefs; 2nd Episode In 3 Years
Divers have documented evidence of what conservationists say is widespread coral bleaching at the Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia’s north-west coast. Photographs show bleaching at several sites along the 260km-long reef, including Turquoise Bay, Coral Bay, Tantabiddi and Bundegi (Exmouth Gulf).
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Paul Gamblin, the WA director of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, described the bleaching event as a “red-alert moment for Ningaloo”. “Bleaching at Ningaloo is not normal. It demands urgent action from government, not business as usual. Large areas of coral could die in the weeks ahead,” Gamblin said. “In addition to Ningaloo, we also need to urgently know the status of bleaching at WA’s spectacular offshore coral reefs, including Scott Reef and the Rowley Shoals,” Gamblin added.
“We know that many people in Exmouth are distressed by what they are witnessing. It’s also a stark reminder that coastal communities and their businesses, including the fishing industry and Ningaloo’s world-renowned tourism industry, rely on a healthy marine environment, and climate change poses an existential threat to them.”
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Ningaloo last bleached in 2022. With increased global heating, coral bleaching will become more common, with rapid successive events eventually killing off reefs as it takes about a decade for corals to recover in the absence of new threats. Mia Pepper, the campaigns director at the Conservation Council of WA, described the latest bleaching event as “an entirely avoidable tragedy”. “This coral bleaching emergency at Ningaloo comes weeks after similar bleaching in the Kimberley and is a direct result of an extreme marine heatwave off our north-west coast,” she said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/feb/18/wa-ningaloo-coral-bleaching