percentage of the Great Barrier Reef have record their highest amount of coral cover since record began 36 age ago , according to anew surveyby the Australian Institute of Marine Science ( AIMS ) . It is n’t all good news , however . Some region of the Rand have put up further diminution and scientist are still concerned that this delicate ecosystem is still in a deeply unstable situation .

The AIMS sight encounter that coral screen in the northern and central Great Barrier Reef has increased by 9 percent and 7 percent severally , since 2021 . Meanwhile , the middling coral covering in the southerly region lessen from 38 percent in 2021 to 34 percent .

The promising results suggest that the Great Barrier Reef has , to some extent , managed to resile back from thesignificant numberof mass bleaching events in recent years , the most austere of which take place in 2016 and 2017 .

Bleaching happen when the corals become stressed due to temperature , light , or nutrient changes . Single - celled algae live within corals in a symbiotic relationship : the coral provides tax shelter while the alga provide sugars through photosynthesis . Under stress , however , the algae jump ship and evade the precious coral , despoil it of vital food and coloring , leaving it a ghostly whitened .

Even this year hasseen a decolorize issue , which was especially concerning as it was the first to occur during aLa Niña , a conditions phenomenon that typically brings cool piss temperatures . as luck would have it , however , it does n’t appear to have been as withering as in late age .

“ In our 36 age of monitor the condition of the Great Barrier Reef we have not encounter bleaching event so close together , ” Paul Hardisty , chief executive of AIMS , said in astatement .

“ Every summer the Reef is at risk of temperature accent , bleaching and potentially mortality and our understanding of how the ecosystem responds to that is still developing , " add up Hardisty .

“ The 2020 and 2022 bleaching events , while extensive , did n’t turn over the intensity of the 2016 and 2017 events and , as a result , we have seen less fatality rate . These latest results shew the Reef can still convalesce in menstruation gratuitous of intense hoo-hah . ”

Much of the increase in covert is being drive by dissolute - growingAcroporacorals , says AIMS monitoring program team leader , Dr Mike Emslie . While the emergence is welcome , these are not the hardiest of corals and it could leave behind the reef in a vulnerable place in eld to come .

“ These coral are especially vulnerable to wave price , like that generated by strong wind and tropic cyclone , ” he explained . “ They are also highly susceptible to coral bleaching , when water temperature hand elevated levels , and are the preferred prey forcrown - of - thorns starfish . This means that large step-up in hard coral screening can quickly be negate by disturbances on reefs whereAcroporacorals predominate . ”

It ’s effective news for now , but the Great Barrier Reef is not out of the woods yet . With climate modification warming the planet ’s ocean , we can expect to see some more bumpy years ahead , toput it lightly .

“ The increase frequence of warm sea temperatures and the extent of aggregative bleaching events highlights the critical scourge clime modification poses to all reef , in particular while crown - of - irritant starfish outbreaks and tropic cyclones are also fall out . Future disturbance can overturn the honour recovery in a short amount of time , ” Emslie warn .