Great Barrier Reef suffers most widespread bleaching on record

TDT | Sydney

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Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most widespread coral bleaching on record, according to a government report released Wednesday that warns the natural wonder is in dire health.

Scientists documented the “most spatially extensive” bleaching since records began almost 40 years ago, driven by sweltering ocean temperatures in 2024 that triggered “unprecedented levels of heat stress”.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science surveyed the health of 124 coral reefs between August 2024 and May 2025.

Northern and southern branches of the sprawling reef had seen the “largest annual decline in coral cover” ever recorded, the government agency found. Reefs had been battered by tropical cyclones and infestations of crown-ofthorns starfish that feast on coral.