Reef won`t recover for decades: expert

The ship that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef has caused widespread damage and
it could take 20 years for the reef to recover, a scientific expert says.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) chief scientist David Wachenfeld
says the Shen Neng 1 has gouged a channel about three kilometres long in the reef
off Rockhampton.
He says the recovery process could take up to two decades.
"This is by far the largest ship grounding scar we have seen on the Great Barrier
Reef to date," he told the ABC.
"This vessel did not make an impact in one place and rest there and then was pulled
off.
"This scar is more in the region of 3km long and up to 250 metres wide."
Dr Wachenfeld will provide further details of the damage to reporters later on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the marine park authority's chairman Russell Reichelt said toxic
paint from the hull of the coal carrier was killing coral around Douglas Shoal,
where the ship ran aground in a restricted part of the marine park on April 3.
The ship was finally refloated on Monday evening and is now anchored in safe waters
off Great Keppel island.
"The paint that's scrapped off (onto) the reef is killing corals in its vicinity,"
he told the ABC.
It could be weeks before the full extent of the damage is known and lessons must be
learnt from the grounding, he said.
"I'm a multiple-use marine park advocate but I do think we have claimed in the past
that we've got the best shipping protection in the world," he said.
"If the best isn't good enough - we're still having groundings - we have to do better."
For many of the nine days the ship was stranded, footage showed a white plume around
the ship - evidence that the hull was crushing coral as it moved with the wind and
swell.
A team of marine scientists is at the scene of the grounding to carry out a full
assessment of environmental damage.
That process is being led by the marine park authority, with help from the
Queensland environment department and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Federal environment minister Peter Garrett said he'd asked the marine park authority
for a thorough review of the site.
"The scientific advisory panel I asked GBRMPA to establish earlier this month will
review the information from the environmental inspection and advise on the next
steps," he said.