Pesticides Damaging Australia?s Great Barrier Reef: Govt. Study

Agricultural pesticides are damaging Great Barrier Reef – one of the world’s great natural wonders – according to a report by the Australian government on water quality.

The report stated that farmers are using to many toxic chemicals that are seeping into the water – in fact, almost 25 percent of horticulture producers and 12 percent of pastoral farmers are believed to using pesticides regarded as unacceptable.

Pesticides of toxic concentrations have been detected 38 miles inside the reef.

The severe flooding as well as cyclone Yasi that hit the region earlier this year are believed to have worsened the problem by sending pollutants into the ocean.
The report particularly blamed pesticides used by the sugar cane industry in northern Queensland province.

Located on the north-east coast of Australia, the reef boasts world’s largest collection of coral reefs, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusk. It is also listed as a World Heritage-listed natural wonder by the United Nations.

The Canberra government has already released studies showing how climate change is causing coral bleaching, but the pesticide issue is something new

Conservationists are calling for a limit on the use of pesticides and an outright prohibition on certain weed killers.