Human Impacts Pt 1

HUMAN IMPACTS 

Currently, there are five main human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef: fishing, sediment runoff, coral bleaching, tourism, and oil pollution. Fishes are very primitive animals, dating back almost 530 million years ago. Therefore, they do not die easily and so, fishers use extreme methods to catch them. The first is cyanide fishing. This is when they use poison to stun the fish, making them easier to catch. However, this negatively impacts the Great Barrier Reef because the cyanide makes everything around it die turning the “rainforests of the ocean” into marine deserts (18).

Cyanide Fishing
Source: http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-magazines/freshwater-and-marine-aquarium/august-2008/cyanide-aquarium-fish.aspx