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Bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef

Between 2016 and 2025 the Great Barrier Reef experienced six mass coral bleaching events driven by marine heatwaves.

The AIMS report from August 2026 gives coral cover of 35.1 percent in the northern region, 31.6 percent in the central region and 26.4 percent in the southern region, where it declined. A late summer monsoon in 2025/26 limited bleaching and there was no repeat mass bleaching, but fast-growing Acropora corals remain vulnerable. A fifth wave of crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks continues in the north.

Species

Needs

• habitat

Who is helping

Organisations that, according to their own publications, work on this event (2). Donations go directly to each organisation's own website - GLOBURNS does not handle payments.

• Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
  AIMS is Australia's national tropical marine research agency. It has monitored the Great Barrier Reef for 40 years; its August 2026 report describes 121 reefs after the…
• Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF)
  The Foundation funds and runs Great Barrier Reef restoration projects: coral breeding, seeding corals onto reefs and research on heat tolerance. In March 2026, with…
  Donate on the organisation's website (barrierreef.org)

Sources

• aims.gov.au aims.gov.au/information-centre/news-and-stories/relief-recovering-reef-monsoon-cools-wate…
• aims.gov.au aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2025-26
• wwf.org.au wwf.org.au/news/2025/mass-coral-mortality-on-the-great-barrier-reef/

Seed record, before editorial verification. Every number links to its source; report errors on the Corrections page. Methodology · Corrections

Other events in this category

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• Vaquita on the brink of extinction in the Gulf of California North America, Gulf of California
• Huemul, the endangered Andean deer of Patagonia South America, Patagonian Andes (Chile and Argentina)
• River dolphin die-offs in Amazon droughts South America, central Amazon (Tefé, Coari)
• Harbour porpoise in the Baltic Proper Northern Europe, Baltic Sea
• Tapanuli orangutan after the Sumatra floods Southeast Asia, North Sumatra
• Emperor penguin endangered by early break-up of fast ice Antarctica (East Antarctica, Mawson station area)
• H5N1 bird flu in the Southern Ocean - elephant seal die-off on Heard Island Southern Ocean, sub-Antarctic islands (Heard Island, South Georgia, Macquarie)