Download Oil Spill Great Barrier Reef Background. The national and international interest in the marine environment, in particular the great barrier reef has escalated at an exponential rate in the last there is a real potential to inflict enormous damage to the great barrier reef and to the shipping industry should a major oil spill occur on the reef. The great barrier reef is considered to be under serious threat from human activity.

Reef oil spill: Oil spill off Great Barrier Reef from www.fairfaxstatic.com.au

Earlier reports of a he said the oil spill was 'not a huge slick of oil from a massive spill from a tanker. The ship has already spilled two tonnes of oil into the pristine waters in the area 70 kilometres east of great keppel island, northeast of gladstone. The government is very conscious of the importance of the great barrier reef environment and ensuring that impacts on its ecology are effectively managed.

The great barrier reef is a mosaic of 2,900 individual reefs off the coast of queensland in northeast australia.

Authorities have found an oil slick off the country's western coast near the great barrier reef. Infestation and disease have damaged it. The great barrier reef is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem, stretching across 344,400 square kilometers of the coral sea off the coast of queensland in northern australia. Authorities fear an oil spill will damage the world's largest coral reef, which is off northeast australia and listed as a world heritage site.