Tourism Is Impacting Upon The Coral Reefs Of Lady Elliot...

Tourism in Australia has evolved over the years and continues to increase to this day, however it is the effects that tourists have the ability to place on the Southern Great Barrier Reef which are potentially threatening for, not only the reef of lady Elliot Island, however, the corals surrounding it. â€Å"International visitations within Australia alone reached 3.9 million visitors within the first 7 months of 2014, which was an increase of approximately 9.5%, a number which continues to rise† (Tourism Australia, 2015). However, with this increasing number, comes possible damaging effects to the surrounding reefs of Lady Elliot Island, possibly leading to the excessive damage of corals due to activities and infrastructure requirements†¦show more content†¦Although scientists are not able to depict exactly when humans first came into contact with the reef, evidential estimations state that the Great Barrier Reef was first formed approximately 500,000 years ago, with the current reef state being formed about 6,000 to 8,000 years old. Coral reefs exist all over the world and are generally known as being one of the most diverse, intricate and beautiful of all existing marine habitats. They have many varying structures which are developed by algae and are symbiotic with various reef building corals which are referred to as, zooxanthellae (algae). There are many other factors such as, coralline algae, sponges and other various organisms that are combined with a number of cementation processes which also contribute to reef growth, (CORAL REEFS, 2015). As can be seen in appendix 2, Lady Elliot Island is located, approximately 46 nautical miles north-east off the coast of Bundaberg and is accessed from the Hervey Bay airport. The island covers an estimated area of approximately 45 hectares. Lady Elliot Island itself caters for approximately 150 day guests, and 100 overnight guests at the one given time and offers various activities such as, reef walking, scuba diving, night trail walking, glass bottom boat tours and various, fish feeding, bird watching and guided tour activities. By