Great Barrier Reef hit in ‘devastating’ fourth global coral bleaching event [Video]

Scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch declared the mass event on Monday (US time, Tuesday AEST).

It’s only the fourth global bleaching ever recorded, but the second in the past ten years.

“From February 2023 to April 2024, significant coral bleaching has been documented in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of each major ocean basin,” NOAA Coral Reef Watch coordinator Derek Manzello said.

The organisation said mass coral bleaching had been detected all across the globe since early last year, including in reefs off the coasts of Mexico, US, Brazil, the Middle East, Fiji, Vanuatu and much of Africa.

It also pointed to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, 75 per cent of which has …