Great Barrier Reef hard coral cover close to record lows

Coral bleaching, crown-of-thorns starfish and cyclones cause 10% to 30% decline over past five years

Hard coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef remains near record lows in its northern stretch and is in decline in the comparatively healthy south, government scientists have found.

A report card by the government's Australian Institute of Marine Science says hard coral cover in the northern region above Cooktown is at 14% - a slight increase on last year but close to the lowest since monitoring began in 1985.