Parts of Great Barrier Reef record highest coral deaths due to heat, storms

Bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270km (167 miles) north of the city of Cairns, Australia [File: David Gray/AFP]

Recent mass bleaching, two cyclones and flooding have left parts of the Great Barrier Reef with “significant coral mortality”, according to new data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).

The in-water surveys of 19 reefs between Lizard Island and Cardwell from August and October found up to 72 percent coral mortality on 12 reefs, the research showed on Tuesday.