The Great Barrier Reef 
| The Great Barrier Reef |
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The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef of the world. The reef is situated off Queensland, in Australia. It measures 2 000 kilometers and can be seen from space. It is considered as the largest alive structure on the Earth. |
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A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. But it is also in danger on account of the navy pollution, the climatic reheating and the fishing. |
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The first European explorer to see the Great Barrier Reef was the captain James Cook during his journey of 1768. He discovered the reef by running aground on the 11th juin 1770.
Due to its vast biodiversity, its light waters and warm and to its large accessibility, the reef is a destination very popular for the divers. Many towns all along of the coast of Queensland offer daily sailings to the reef. Several continental islands have beenont transformed into resorts.
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The Great Barrier Reef is sometimes called the biggest alive animal of the world. In reality, it is constituted of many colonies of corals. |
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The most significant threat to the future of the Great Barrier Reef and of other tropical ecosystems is the global reheating. Many of corals species of the Great Barrier are currently living at the upper edge of their temperature tolerance, as demonstrate the bleachings of corals of summers 1998 and 2002. Under the effect of waters which remains too warm during too long, the corals expel their zooxanthellae responsable of the photosynthesis and lose their colours, revealing their white skeletons, and die shortly afterwards. The climatic reheating has disengaged the collapse of ecosystems of reefs on the whole of tropical areas. The global temperatures increased bring tropical storms more violent, but the systems of reefs are naturally resistant and recovered from misdeeds of storms. |
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These last years, the scrubbing of agricultural chemicals (manure and plant health produces), particularly those coming from exploitations of sugar cane, had a significant impact. The increase of the silting and the bleaching of the coral have destroyed broad areas of the reef. we doesn't know yet what results will have the recent almost breakdown of the Australian industry of sugar. |
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The Crown-of-Thorns starfishes are predators of corals. When the sytem of the reef never in equilibrium again, the starfish populations can increase dangerously. These last decades, several popular areas of the reef, have been severely damaged by their attacks.
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The number of visitors of the reef is itself a problem. The popular areas like Green Island have suffered considerable damages from tourists. |
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Since the 1st July 2004, the fishing is forbidden in a third of the Great Barrier Reef. Before-hand, only 4% of the surface was concerned by the interdiction of fishing. The Australian government department of the environment asserts that the interdiction will assign mainly the fishermen with trickles and the fishermen of crabs.
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