Flying Fish Cove

• 11 Aug 2026ConservationApplies to Australia

  Coral cover: Relief for recovering Great Barrier Reef as late monsoon cools waters

  Open Access Government

  In August 2026 the Long-Term Monitoring Program, surveying 121 reefs, reported Great Barrier Reef hard coral cover stable or slightly higher, with the northern region at 35.1 percent, up from 30 percent in 2025. Fast-growing Acropora corals remain fragile after the 2024 bleaching event.

• 6 Jul 2026ConservationApplies to Australia

  Warning as Great Barrier Reef avoids 'in danger' listing

  InDaily

  In July 2026 a UNESCO draft decision did not list the Great Barrier Reef as World Heritage in danger, while recommending further protection work, following the World Heritage Committee's July 2025 decision on the reef. Queensland's environment minister welcomed the draft, and a conservation group said Australia faces an 18-month deadline to report on reef water quality.

• 12 May 2026ConservationApplies to Australia

  Reef report highlights more troubles and action needed

  Newsport

  In May 2026 the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's summer 2025-26 reef snapshot was reported as finding above-average sea temperatures from December to March, causing significant coral bleaching in the Northern region and smaller-scale bleaching elsewhere. It also reported severe coral damage from Cyclone Narelle's waves in the Far Northern region, flood runoff affecting inshore reefs, and crown-of-thorns outbreaks in all regions.

• 11 Jul 2025RulesApplies to Australia

  World Heritage Committee orders review of Great Barrier Reef management

  InDaily

  In July 2025 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, at its 47th session in Paris, required a review of how Australia manages the Great Barrier Reef after mass bleaching and flooding. Australia was to submit a State of Conservation report by February 2026, and the reef could be listed as In Danger if progress is judged inadequate; no later outcome was confirmed.

• 19 Nov 2024ConservationApplies to Australia

  Parts of Great Barrier Reef record highest coral deaths due to heat, storms

  Al Jazeera

  In November 2024 the Australian Institute of Marine Science reported surveys of 19 reefs between Lizard Island and Cardwell, finding up to 72% coral mortality on 12 of them after mass bleaching, two cyclones and flooding. In one northern sector more than a third of hard coral cover was lost, the largest annual decline in 39 years of monitoring.

• 19 Mar 2024ConservationApplies to Australia

  Fifth Great Barrier Reef mass bleaching since 2016

  DIVE Magazine

  In March 2024 the Australian Institute of Marine Science classed the February 2024 bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef as the fifth mass bleaching event since 2016. Aerial surveys had covered more than 300 reefs, about two-thirds of the reef, in the central and southern regions at that point.

Summaries are ours, written from the linked reports.