A leading expert in reed conservation has put Agincourt at the top of the tree when it comes to the health of the system.

It was reported that Agincourt had "bounced back remarkably" after there had been extensive damage done by Crown of Thorns starfish in the early 1970's.

He said the health of the reef was as good as anywhere else in the world with a good variety of species and large fish numbers thanks to the no take Green Zones.

However, at the end of July the Australian Institute of Marine Science released the results of one of their largest ever studies of the impacts of water quality pollution on the Great Barrier Reef.

The report showed that poor water quality, characterised by high turbidity and nutrients, increases the amount of seaweed and reduces the biodiversity of corals.

The principal investigator, Dr Glenn De’ath said seaweed cover showed the strongest response to poor water quality, increasing five-fold with declining water clarity. The diversity of corals was also affected, decreasing in poor water quality.

AIMS coral reef ecologist, Dr Katharina Fabricius said “Previously, research on the impacts of pollution on the Great Barrier Reef was conducted on local scales.


“For this study, we collected ecological data from 150 reefs and at over 2,000 water quality stations across the entire Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, making it a much broader study.”

“Currently, the water on 22 percent of reefs – about 647 reefs - on the Great Barrier Reef does not meet water quality guidelines,” Dr De’ath said.


The study predicts that if water quality was improved in these areas, seaweed would be heavy reduced, and the number of coral species would increase.