Proponents for the huge expansion of coal ports along the coast of Queensland, including at Abbot Point, have asserted that dredging and dumping of dredge spoil at sea won’t harm the Great Barrier Reef. But this runs counter to the growing weight of scientific evidence.
The latest healthcheck of the Great Barrier Reef confirmed that much of the Reef is in a bad state, and getting worse. Leaving aside the challenges of global warming and ocean acidification linked to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, key issues for the expansion of coal ports in Queensland are the amount of dredging and the dispersal of sediment beyond dredging and disposal sites.
