Great Barrier Reef will be 'pretty ugly' by 2050

The Great Barrier Reef is in the worst state it's been in since records began and will be "pretty ugly" within 40 years, Australian scientists say.

A senate committee is investigating how the Australian and Queensland governments have managed the reef, with the UNESCO agency to decide next year whether to list it as a World Heritage site in danger.

Scientists have told the committee the reef is facing threats from coastal development, such as a massive port-related dredging project at Abbot Point, farm run-off and poor water quality.

The reef cannot rejuvenate after times of stress as it once did, the scientists say.

The Australian Coral Reef Society - the oldest organisation in the world that studies coral reefs - says coral cover has halved since the 1980s, when the reef was listed as a World Heritage asset.

By 2050 there will be fewer fish and large swathes of seaweed where complex coral structures once thrived, society president Professor Peter Mumby said.


"It will be really pretty ugly," Prof Mumby told the committee.

"And the ability to earn a livelihood will be vastly diminished.

"The reef is in the worse state it's ever been in since records began. There is so much scope to improve governance."

The committee was told funding for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority had been cut, and the Commonwealth was set to devolve its environmental approval powers to the states, meaning major projects would only be assessed once.

The director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, said current efforts to help the reef were inadequate.

"The threats are escalating," he told the hearing.

"It is time for a rethink. We are living in a fantasy land."

A protest was held outside parliament before the hearing began.

Environmentalists and mining lobby groups are due to give more evidence on Monday.