By Dr. Sylvia Earle
Hooray for the stay of execution for the Great Barrier Reef! Maybe common sense will prevail as the full extent of the economic, ecological and security impacts are more widely recognized. One aspect that gets little attention is this:
It is not just the dumping of the spoils from dredging that matters here.
Putting aside the rationale for the channel — to facilitate shipping coal mined in western Australia to be burned in China, and the consequences of traffic through the channel (noise, wave action, spills, wastes, other ship-related impacts.)
There is a perception that there is no downside to having the channel as long as it does not cut through the reef itself.
But mud-sand and other “soft bottom” areas are as full of life as a rain forest and are critical to the existence of the more conspicuous reef systems. …