Great Barrier Reef

In 1990, Conservation, Education, Diving, Archaeology, and Museums International (CEDAM International) gathered the opinions of the world's most respected marine experts and selected "seven underwater wonders of the world" including the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, the idea was inspired by the seven wonders of the ancient world, which were all manmade and of which only the Great Pyramid survives. The underwater wonders give people points of interest and focus for preserving our planet's vast oceans.

Education of the public is needed if the Great Barrier Reef is to survive. Over 1.5 million visitors per year visit the tropical paradise, and development along the Australian coast to accommodate the tourists was largely uncontrolled until 1990. In the 1980s, the island resort of Hamilton was built following the dredging of harbors, leveling of hills, construction of hotels and an airport, and the creation of artificial beaches. About 25 resorts like this dot the Reef. Fishing has also decimated local fish populations; fish that are prized include not only those for food but tropical fish for home aquariums. Fishing nets, boat anchors, and waste from fishing and pleasure boats all do their own damage. Greedy prospectors have mined the coral itself because it can be reduced to lime for manufacture of cement and for soil improvement in the sugar cane fields. Reefs in other parts of the world are near collapse, thanks to such irresponsibility.

Environmental hazards like oil spills have seriously threatened the Reef. The maze of reefs includes a narrow, shallow shipping channel that is used by oil and chemical tankers and that has a high accident rate. Over 2,000 ships per year navigate the channel, and the environmental organization Greenpeace is campaigning to ban the oil traffic through this vulnerable channel. Lagoons have collected waste runoff from towns, agriculture, and tourist development; and the waste has allowed algae (beyond the natural population) to flourish and strangle the live coral. Pesticides and fertilizers also change the balance between the coral and algae and zooand phyto-plankton, and the coral serves as an indicator of chemical damage by accumulating PCBs, metals, and other contaminants. Sediment also washes off the land from agricultural activities and development; it clouds the water and limits photosynthesis. A thousand other hazards inflict unknown damage on the Reef. Periodic burning off of the sugar cane fields fills the air with smoke that settles on Reef waters, overfishing of particular species of fish shifts the balance of power in the undersea world, and shells and coral are harvested (both within and beyond legal limits) and sold to tourists.

The Government of Australia has declared the Great Barrier Reef a national park, and activities like explorations for gold and oil and spearfishing were permanently banned with the Reef's new status. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named it a world heritage site in attempts to encourage awareness and protect the area. Despite many threats, the marine park is one of the best protected in the world, thanks to citizens who recognize the worth of this treasure and visitors who are willing to practice ecotourism, and thanks to an extensive body of protective laws.