Mea Culpa Great Barrier Reef
I am translating my vision of what will happen to the corals and seagrasses in the Great Barrier reef in this series of jewellery. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has approved a proposal to dump dredge spoil from the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion in the marine park area. Three million cubic metres of spoil must be dredged as part of the project at Bowen in North Queensland green-lighted by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt last month. Sediment from dredging can smother corals and seagrasses and expose them to poisons and elevated nutrients. Greenpeace warns that any dumping of dredge spoil on the World Heritage-listed reef will be an "international embarrassment" and akin to "dumping rubbish in the Grand Canyon". "Scientists are clear that the potential impacts of dumping the dredge spoil so close to fringing reefs and the WWII Catalina plane wreck are significant."