Or is it?
Our reef is in trouble. To paraphrase Costa Georgiadis: nature tells the truth; and we must only look at our reef on Norfolk Island to know its truth. We, as custodians, for whatever reason, have not been caring enough for it and now that carelessness is coming home to roost.
Yes, we have some beautiful corals still, and some amazing fish, but more and more I am seeing spreading coral disease and an increase in algae smothering the dead corals as they turn to rubble. I have worked hard for a couple of years now to show the beauty of what we have here on Norfolk Island, both through this website and my Facebook page, Norfolk Island Time, hoping against hope that there would be a greater appreciation for it as a unique and amazing ecosystem, right on our doorstep. There has been some activity, but the elephant in the room has not yet been addressed, through a combination of lack of funds and environmental laws that haven’t yet caught up with the reality of Norfolk Island as it is governed today.
Above is a series of images showing just a small part of the algal problem in our bays. You can click on any image to enlarge it.
Everyone loves to swim in Emily and Slaughter Bays. They are a major attraction to tourists and locals alike. But we can no longer take them for granted. We’ve had some heavy rain in the last few days leading to a flow of water from one of the island’s creeks into Emily Bay. This water flow affects the water quality in the bay. Just today I went for a swim, only to be told there had been an announcement on the radio to say the water was unsafe for swimming, which I had clearly missed. There were no signs in place, with many families obviously unaware of this warning, happily splashing around in the shallows.
Do we have to close the beach every time it rains heavily? Is that really good enough in one of Australia’s most beautiful tourist destinations?
We are currently waiting on a report from CSIRO around water flows into our Marine Park (which includes all the waters around Norfolk Island). I am in no way diminishing the importance of this report, and, indeed, I welcome it. But as I have said in earlier articles (one of which I recommend you read at the very least get a more fulsome appreciation of the issues: The State of Play on Norfolk Island’s Reef), we have had numerous reports since the 1960s all saying the same thing about the water quality issues that are affecting the health of our reef.
If we could put a dollar value on what the reef and our marine life is worth to our community and to the tourist dollars it earns us, we would realise that by NOT paying attention to its distress signals we are doing ourselves a huge disservice. Although I would also argue that our environment should be much more important to us than the dollar, but if that is what it takes …
So what is going on in our bays? Reefs all over the world are suffering for a whole host of reasons, including climate change, pollution, over-fishing and much more. While we can only all do our bit by consumning less and treading a little more lightly with a limited direct effect, when it comes to water quality on our reef, we can most certainly do something about it and must. But like many things it requires money and the will to fix, and therein lies the problem.
White disease, or white syndrome is a general term given to diseases that cause tissue loss in corals leaving the coral skeleton behind. There are a few theories about what causes this disease, but the two key factors that seem to keep coming up are water temperature and, importantly, water quality. It has been my experience that white syndrome can spread rapidly across a colony in a matter of days and certainly over a couple of weeks.
Once white disease has run its course, there is increased algal growth on the dead coral. Unlike coral bleaching, which can be reversible, there is no going back from this kind of disease. In some of the images posted below, you can see how algal growth takes over as the coral dies, taking the ecosystem from a coral-dominated one to an algal-dominated one, with the attendant knock-on effects for the marine life that lives there.
But don’t believe me. I am not a scientist, just a casual observer who swims our lagoons most days. You can check the list of reports pointing to this impending calamity in the article, linked above, ‘The State of Play on Norfolk Island’s Reef’. Specifically, the most recent report, the Norfolk Island Lagoonal Reef Ecosystem Health Assessment 2020–2021, says this of Norfolk Island’s reef:
Indicators such as coral cover and algal cover suggest reef condition is in degrading state.
In March 2020 live hard-coral cover was approximately 30%, and there was evidence of coral skeletons, recently dead coral, and coral overgrown with algae across the reef.
In 1988 coral cover ranged between 14% on the intertidal platform to 64% at mid-lagoonal Bommies (Veron 1997), at that time there was no evidence for dead or algal overgrown corals in the bays, but Veron noted declining coral health and species loses, attributed to poor water quality and land-based pollution.
This Australia Day I was given a community service award in recognition of the work I have done raising the profile of our reef. It was unexpected and I was honoured to accept it. What made my award even more important to me was the fact that people I respect and who also care about the reef nominated me: people who I readily recognise are doing their best to try and rectify the situation so we don’t lose the reef. Although, I do worry that in accepting this award I clearly haven’t been doing a great job because I see an increasing acceleration in the reef’s demise, to the point that in the last few months it has become overwhelming for me to keep track of the new outbreaks of disease, which is beyond heartbreaking.
Below are a series of images that I hope will illustrate part of the problem. I’ve marked some of them so you can compare the features as easily as possible. I have folders filled with similar images. I am not prone to hyperbole and I require evidence before I speak out. I would suggest that the evidence in these images cannot be ignored.
The people here on-island who are looking at our water quality need all the help they can get. They urgently need support to put a plan in place to reverse the decline before it is too late.
