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Environment
Zoe Richards, Senior Research Fellow, Curtin University

Record coral cover doesn't necessarily mean the Great Barrier Reef is in good health (despite what you may have heard)

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In what seems like excellent news, coral cover in parts of the Great Barrier Reef is at a record high, according to new data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. But this doesn’t necessarily mean our beloved reef is in good health.

In the north of the reef, coral cover usually fluctuates between 20% and 30%. Currently, it’s at 36%, the highest level recorded since monitoring began more than three decades ago.

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