On top of global climate change threatening the future of the Great Barrier Reef, there are a number of ecological concerns with the proposed dredging in preparation for expansion of the Gladstone and Abbot Point ports to handle coal exports to China. Something that I don’t think has received enough attention is the increase in noise pollution as a result of this. This will occur both during, and after the dredging. Researchers have discovered that fish do, in fact, move away from noise, and it can threaten their health. Marine animals rely heavily on noise when searching for suitable habitats. The ocean is a noisy place, especially around reefs with the abundance of various forms of life. Many fish will move towards the sounds of the reefs, but studies show that they will move away from man-made sounds coming from boat motors, horns, and even sonar. It was found that even when they hear the human caused sounds in combination with reef noises, they will still move away. An interesting finding was how much this affects fish in the larval stages. The reefs are important during the developmental stages of the fish, and if they become disoriented and do not end up in the proper habitat, they lose protection, and possibly even food sources, and this could prove to be detrimental to the fish in the GBR. Abbot Point (one of the ports proposed for expansion, shown below) would become the world’s largest coal export location if this proposal is carried out, meaning that even the areas that are not directly impacted by the increased turbidity of the dredging or the dumping of the sediment, or that are located further from the port will still be subject to extreme increases in noise pollution due to the increase in volume of traffic of ships transporting the coal form Australia to China, or elsewhere. This is but one of the many negative ways this plan will impact the GBR, I just felt it had not been discussed as much as some of the others.
Images: http://maritimeintel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Abbot-point.jpg
http://esciencenews.com/files/images/201007063354610.jpg