FEDERAL Environment Minister Greg Hunt will raise the coral bleaching threat to its highest level following a recent visit to the Great Barrier Reef.

Read the transcript of his interview with ABC Breakfast host Fran Kelly below:

FRAN KELLY:
Minister welcome back to Breakfast. 

GREG HUNT:
Good morning Fran. 

FRAN KELLY:
You took that observation flight yesterday and flew north of Lizard Island I believe, where the coral is suffering the most. Can you describe what you saw? 

GREG HUNT:
Sure. So I went with the head of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Dr Russell Reichelt, and we flew north from Cairns along what are called the ribbon reefs – so these are the great, majestic reefs that people see in the documentaries, in the tourism promotion, and if they're lucky enough, to visit in person. Those reefs are generally in very strong condition. As you travel further north you see additional patches of white or really more likely grey from where we were, and then from Lizard Island and north, it becomes a more prominent event. 

The official description from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: the bottom three quarters of the reef are in what's called minor to moderate bleaching conditions, and then it becomes more severe in the top quarter. And so the reef is still the great majestic reef, but what happens is that you will have areas where the bleaching, which comes from water which is warmer than usual temperatures because of El Nino multiplied by the number of days at which it's at those higher temperatures – that then increases and you have a broader problem, which can either lead to coral stress, or in some cases coral mortality. 

FRAN KELLY:
Now the Government, in response to what you saw and what you've heard, you've announced some money for new research which will involve surveying 40 sites in the far northern section of the reef.

But don't we already know why that coral is bleaching? If we look big picture, particularly in the north, the global warming is the answer, and that's caused by burning fossil fuels. Isn't it really – that's the big picture answer? 

GREG HUNT:
Well the advice from – again, from the Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is that this is one of a number of El Ninos which have occurred over recent decades. At this point they say it's not as severe as 1998 or 2002 but it's a continuing event.

The antidote is cloud cover and rain, which has helped in the southern three-quarters. And in relation to climate change, what climate change does is it progressively, over time, makes and exacerbates the effects of El Nino to ensure that they are worse than they would otherwise have been. 

FRAN KELLY:
Yeah. 

GREG HUNT:
So it's an El Nino event, and at this point not as bad on the advice of GBRMPA as 1998 or 2002, but it is continuing. 

FRAN KELLY:
We heard from – last week on the program we were speaking with Professor Terry Hughes, and I'm sure you know he's the Director of the ARC Centre for Excellence for Coral Reefs Studies... 

GREG HUNT:
Yes, a very distinguished scientist. 

FRAN KELLY:
Yeah, he's heading this coral bleaching taskforce, looking at the reef. And we spoke to him last week; let's just have a bit of a listen. 

(Excerpt) 

So that's distinguished marine biologist Terry Hughes speaking to us last week. He also made the point, Minister, that as you say, this is El Nino, but what we're seeing, as he said very clearly there, this is caused by global warming. He said scientists have been studying this region since the Second World War, and we simply weren't seeing events like this until 1998. So in other words, it's El Nino turbocharged by global warming.

GREG HUNT:
Look I think the analysis there is that you have periodic El Ninos, and then you overlay climate change on top of it and it does exacerbate them. I don't think there's any debate in the scientific community on that front.

That's the advice of all of the marine scientists and climatologists with whom I've worked. And that's why the Paris outcome, in terms of the first truly effective global agreement – yes, there was Kyoto, but this brings everybody in, particularly countries such as China – is fundamental. And if countries adhere to their pledges, then that will make a very major difference. So what you have to do is you have to take local steps to improve the resilience and health of the reef.

That's why the crown of thorns work, which is providing protection and mitigation for vulnerable areas, the work to reduce sediment and nitrogen runoff, which has an impact on the health of the reef is extremely important. And then you work at the global level, because only a global solution can deal with the problem which is a challenge for every reef all around the world. 

FRAN KELLY:
So given what we've seen, and what you just said too, I mean how long before it's too late for the reef? 

GREG HUNT:
Well actually the head of the Marine Park Authority was optimistic yesterday. He talked about the fact that the work that we have done with supercharging the attack on the crown of thorns has had far more success than they had anticipated. Also the runoff controls are beginning to yield real benefit, and that gives additional resilience or strength to the reef. 

FRAN KELLY:
Not so much as issue for the north of the reef, is it? It's more pristine up there anyway.

GREG HUNT:
Well the north is truly an extraordinary part of the Great Barrier Reef and so I think it is important to put it in context.

 It's serious, but also when you fly over these areas – and it was the best look I'd ever had at the whole continuum of ribbon reefs – they are in extraordinary condition. You see them, you see that this is the reef, it's not as if they are plates of white, these are the Great Barrier Reef ribbons as people know them. But you begin to see additional patches of white or grey the further north you go. 

So that's the challenge and what we can do on our watch is to make sure that we have monitoring baselines but much more importantly, attacking the crown of thorns, attacking the runoff and then ensuring that the commitments that countries made at the Paris Agreement are rigorously enforced and achieved