By Sara Gates, Source: Huffington Post

The Great Barrier Reef’s days may be numbered.

Researchers appeared before an Australian Senate committee this week to review how federal and local governments have managed the reef. What they discovered is that the world’s largest coral reef system is in bad shape. Professor Peter Mumby of the Marine Spatial Ecology Lab at the University of Queensland said that the Great Barrier Reef will be “pretty ugly” by 2050.

“The reef is in the worse [sic] state it’s ever been in since records began,” Mumby told the committee, according to the Australian Associated Press. Within 40 years, he expects, the Great Barrier Reef will lose populations of marine life and will feature far more seaweed and algae where coral once flourished.

Mumby attributed the significant decline to coastal development and placed some of the blame on government action, such as approval of proposals involving dredging and dumping sediment along the Queensland coast.

His statements were echoed by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a professor of marine studies at the University of Queensland. Hoegh-Guldberg described current management efforts as inadequate, according to Australia’s The Chronicle.

Read the rest at: Huffington Post