- Comedian Kirsty Webeck launches campaign with REEF CORAL CLEARANCE SALE in Sydney today, with performers modelling spectacular, colourful coral costumes
- Reef's corals already struggling to survive climate change and increasingly frequent and severe marine heatwaves and mass coral bleaching events
- Live wild coral exports banned from Thailand, Fiji and Belize; European Union and United Kingdom ban imports of some Great Barrier Reef corals
- No need to take coral from Reef - most coral harvesters have aquaculture tanks
Most Australians would be appalled if they knew that Great Barrier Reef corals are being chipped away and exported by the truckload - so today the Australian Marine Conservation Society launched a campaign to inform Australians and end the live wild coral exports.*
The Great Barrier Reef's corals are struggling to survive the increasingly frequent and severe mass coral bleaching events, yet the Australian and Queensland governments allow healthy corals to be chipped off our iconic World Heritage site and shipped off for private aquariums. The government allows the coral harvesters to take up to 190 tonnes of coral a year - which would need a similar number of small trucks to transport.
(*When we asked some Queenslanders about Reef coral exports in a YouGov poll, the vast majority - 77% - said they think government should support the coral fishery to transition from wild harvest to aquaculture.)
Australian comedian Kirsty Webeck today helped AMCS launch the Great Barrier Reef Coral Clearance Sale, attempting to hawk some of our rarest corals in the heart of Sydney's shopping district - or at least actors, comedians and even an opera star dressed in spectacular coral costumes.
AMCS Great Barrier Reef Fisheries Campaign Manager Simon Miller said: "We brought a lot of colour and fun to Sydney's lunchtime crowds, but the Great Barrier Reef corals lose their spectacular colours in mass coral bleaching events, but it's no laughing matter that we still allow the export of the healthy corals that survive the marine heatwaves.
"Most Australians will be appalled to know that the Great Barrier Reef's corals are being chipped off and shipped off by the truckload to satisfy the tastes of private aquarium owners overseas.
"The Great Barrier Reef's corals are struggling to survive the increasingly frequent mass coral bleaching events, yet the Australian and Queensland governments allow business to take some of our rarest and unique corals for sale to private aquariums overseas. Coral harvesters may be taking Australia's most resilient hard corals - the corals that are the backbone of the Great Barrier Reef and habitat for thousands of species.
"What makes the situation more ludicrous is that the Australian Government is spending millions on coral restoration on the Great Barrier Reef while allowing coral harvesters to chip away at the World Heritage site and undermine its own restoration efforts.
"It's obscene that Britain and the European Union seem more concerned about our Reef 's corals than our own governments, banning imports of some of the Reef's most valuable corals over sustainability concerns. Other countries have taken decisive action to protect their coral reefs. Live wild coral exports have been banned by Thailand, Fiji and Belize, while the Indonesian industry has largely shifted to mariculture, a type of aquaculture.
"There is no future for this fishery under climate change. Most coral harvesters already have aquaculture facilities to grow corals, so there is no need to take it from our beleaguered Great Barrier Reef, which is coming under increasing stress from climate change and the escalating marine heatwaves, cyclones, storms and flooding.
"We call on the Australian Government to end Great Barrier Reef wild coral exports and support the coral fishery to transition rapidly to tank-grown coral aquaculture by December 2028. We urge Australians to add their voices to that call through our website at marineconservation.org.au/actions/endcoralharvesting"
Performers in spectacular, colourful coral costumes: Comedian Vic Zerbst (half of Freudian Nip); actor Charles Wu, best known for Doctor Doctor; Opera Australia baritone Paul-Anthony Keightley; science communicator and children's author Lee Constable; and environmentalist and model Laura Wells. Coral costume designer Olivia Simpson has worked in film, TV and theatre, including Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby and his creative partner Catherine Martin's theatre adaptation of Strictly Ballroom.
