jaybee
05-09-2003, 06:33 PM
ABC News
Posted: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 13:05 AEST
The popular perception that tourism is having a negative impact on the Great Barrier Reef has been challenged in a Reef Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) study.
A review of studies during the past decade by the CRC has found the 1.6 million visitors to the reef each year are well managed by operators.
Centre chief executive officer Professor Russell Reichelt says the visitors are spread over more than 3,000 reefs and islands, and operators realise they have a financial interest in maintaining the reefs.
"The first inklings we get of things going wrong on the reef in a number of cases have come from the tourism industry, the offshore operators that visit the reefs were the first to tell us of some major coral bleaching events there last year," he said.
Posted: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 13:05 AEST
The popular perception that tourism is having a negative impact on the Great Barrier Reef has been challenged in a Reef Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) study.
A review of studies during the past decade by the CRC has found the 1.6 million visitors to the reef each year are well managed by operators.
Centre chief executive officer Professor Russell Reichelt says the visitors are spread over more than 3,000 reefs and islands, and operators realise they have a financial interest in maintaining the reefs.
"The first inklings we get of things going wrong on the reef in a number of cases have come from the tourism industry, the offshore operators that visit the reefs were the first to tell us of some major coral bleaching events there last year," he said.