Thanks for your interest and support

Dear ,

You may have read in the media 4 days ago that the Great Barrier Reef has record coral cover.

I wonder how much you may have contributed to this turnaround by purchasing a ticket to the premiere of Jennifer Marohasy’s A Coral Bleaching Tragedy two weekends ago.

That might seem like a bit of a stretch, but as Jennifer explains in a recent blog, the method used by AIMS to measure reef cover is quite subjective. They drag a snorkeller over the reef by Manta tow, and the snorkeller estimates the cover from what they see. There are no photographs, or anything else, used for quality control.

Talking to Peter Ridd he estimates this method might only have an accuracy to +/- 10% (that means between 30% and 50% would be an acceptable range of estimation for 40% coral cover).

So if everyone is saying the reef is dead or dying a researcher would only be human if they under-estimated reef cover. And if you know that someone with a more positive view is actually doing real photographic reconnaissance, you might actually be tempted to go high.

That could certainly make it possible that part of the quick recovery of the reef from just after Cyclone Yasi, when the reef was supposedly doomed, to now, despite numerous bleaching events in between, is due to confirmation bias, both negative and positive. And due to the spotlight that Jennifer is shining on them.

Which makes it even more important that you get Jennifer’s information out as widely as possible to keep the pressure on governments and scientists to be honest about the real state of the reef.

You might also like to buy Peter Ridd’s Reef Heresy, where he outlines a series of problems with Great Barrier Reef science, as another antidote. So many of you did on the day that we ran out of copies. However our online store is stocked and ready to sell more. (While you’re at it we also have copies of Green Murder and Heaven + Earth by Ian Plimer for sale - not the GBR, but related).

I’m trying to convince Jennifer to put her movie on a USB stick so you can buy it as a present for family and friends, but in the meantime you can view online some of her other mini-documentaries showing the true state of the reef:

• Beige Reef
  
• The Measure of the Great Barrier Reef
  

You might also like to follow Jennifer’s blog where she often deals with reef issues, as she does in these posts:

• Latest Survey of ‘Coral Cover’ Fundamentally Unscientific
  
• A Whitewash is Not Colourful – Part 1: John Brewer Reef Fact Check
  
• There are None So Blind – Part 2: John Brewer Reef Fact Check
  
• Stonewalling on Contradictory Results – Part 3: John Brewer Reef Fact Check
  
• Experts with Money Ignorant of Corals – Part 4: John Brewer Reef Fact Check
  

If you weren’t already on the AIP email lists I’ve added your name so we can keep you informed of upcoming events. If you want to be removed at any time, just let me know, or use the unsubscribe button on the bottom of the emails.

Hope to see you again soon.

Regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR