Greenpeace activists leave their tag on the hull of the Panamanian-flagged coal ship Chou San in Gladstone harbour during a UN inspection. Picture: Greenpeace Source: Supplied
OVERFISHING and farm run-off pose a greater danger to corals on the Great Barrier Reef north of Gladstone than mining development in the town's harbour, a top researcher says.
Central Queensland University coral ecologist Alison Jones made the assessment yesterday as a UN research team arrived in the industrial centre of Gladstone to investigate the threat of port expansion to the reef.
It is about 70km from Gladstone to the outer reef at Heron Island. And Dr Jones, who monitors reef health in the Keppel islands, 30km north of Gladstone, said she would have a "great deal of difficulty" making a link between the development of vast coal-seam gas works and export terminals at Gladstone's Curtis Island and the condition of the Keppel reefs.
The Australian
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