CLIMATE change activists have placed bright yellow tape reading ‘CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS - across dead coral on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas.

A group of scuba divers from 350.org have turned the blowtorch on Australian energy company AGL and multinational oil and gas company Exxon Mobil.

Tape and signs reading “MASS REEF DIE-OFF brought to you by Australia’s No.1 polluter AGL #DirtyAGL” and  “Exxon killed the reef #ExxonKnew" could be seen on the ocean floor.

350.org spokesperson Zelda Grimshaw, speaking to Newsport before they set out to the Great Barrier Reef, said Australian’s were ‘sick and tired’ of such corporations being in denial about climate change.

“Companies like AGL here in Australia are directly responsible for the continued deterioration of the Great Barrier Reef,” Grimshaw said.

“AGL is Australia’s largest carbon polluter and they are doing nothing to protect this natural wonder, so we are here to shame them into action.”

Fossil fuels are the biggest contributor to carbon dioxide and scientists agree its carbon dioxide that’s causing global warming. The recent mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef has been the worst on record, and groups like 350.org and marine experts across the world say it’s a direct result of global warming.

“Australia wants to see a shift to renewable energy,” Grimshaw said.

The ocean protests were conducted simultaneously on the Great Barrier Reef and on coral in Samoa and the Andaman Islands.