People's Impact!!!

          People impact the Great Barrier Reef in different ways and overall the impact tends to be negative. People disturb the Great Barrier Reef’s ecosystem in ways such as: commercial industries, defense activities and shipping. The two biggest commercial industries are tourism and fishing. Although these industries bring great contributions to Australia’s economy they are harmful to the environment. There is a dangerous case of overfishing in the in the Great Barrier Reef. According to the University of Michigan, “…a fifth of the reefs have been destroyed or are not recovering”. Fishing causes a disruption to the food web it removes keystone plant and animal life. The Reef contains certain environments and organisms essential to the existence of others, when fishing people do not take into consideration the consequences that can occur when removing even the smallest species of coral or fish. (9) Aside from decline of living species in the Barrier Reef, pollution also take a great toll on the ecosystem. There have been incidents of sediment runoff that bring natural and toxic components that cause harm to the ecosystem.(10) The pollution can also arise from human derived sewage, fertilizers and pesticides.  The quality of the Reef’s water has deteriorated over the past 100 years.(11)

Water variables that impact the GBR, contribute to the annual sediment and
chemical runoff that is causing great damage.(10)

Pawn Trawl Fishing, important to the ecosystem but more important to the economy...(10)