It's official: the biggest and most robust corals on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) have slowed their growth by more than 14 per cent since the "tipping point" year of 1990. Evidence is strong that the decline has been caused by a synergistic combination of rising sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification.

The most comprehensive survey to date of the coral bleaching phenomenon and its effect on the future of the world's coral reefs has been published in a book edited by two senior AIMS scientists.

Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research says a new Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Index of Marine Industry estimates the value of Australian marine industries at $38 billion a year.

Contacts:

Mr. Terry Collins , +1-416-878-8712 +1-416-538-8712 terrycollins@rogers.com

Ms. Darlene Trew Crist , +1-401-295-1356 +1-401-952-7692 darlene.crist@cox.net

AIMS is embarking on a scientific quest to answer fundamental questions about the unseen world of marine microbes, focused on the symbiotic relationships between the smallest creatures known and their hosts.

The roadmap to the future of the gorgeously-decorated fish which throng Australia's coral reefs and help earn the nation $5 billion a year from tourism may well be written in their genes.

Hundreds of new kinds of animals have surprised international researchers who have been systematically exploring waters off two islands on the Great Barrier Reef and a reef off northwestern Australia, waters long familiar to divers.

Rising sea surface temperatures are setting the scene for increases in virulent coral diseases that are already wreaking havoc on reefs around the world.

Sea sponges, which host a complex community of microbes in a mutually-beneficial relationship, are at risk from higher sea surface temperatures because the symbiotic relationship between the sponge and its microbes breaks down at 33 degrees Celsius.