Bleaching fears along 1,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef

Bleaching at the Keppel islands near Rockhampton on the Great Barrier Reef. Photograph: James Cook University/TropWATER

Scientists are reporting corals are bleaching white and dying from rising ocean temperatures across a more than 1,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science were preparing on Thursday to carry out surveys from a helicopter across the southern section of the reef.