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Climate Witness: John Rumney, Australia

01 May 2007
I grew up in the United States and was enthralled by the underwater wonders that Jacques Cousteau captured in his documentaries. The dream of joining in my own version of a ‘Calypso’ adventure has never died for me, and today I lead a life on the Great Barrier Reef far beyond my youthful fantasies.

I arrived in Far North Queensland over 30 years ago, keen to explore the majesty and wonder of the Great Barrier Reef.  The Reef is probably my heart and soul. I left the States to come here to explore it – and I’m still totally fascinated by it.

When I first arrived in Port Douglas – the town that would become my home – I became a commercial fisherman to pay for a boat and fuel to go diving.  It’s just what you did to be with nature – this was before tourism – you couldn’t just sail around all day on a yacht...

I spent many years fishing and diving, on the Reef spending weeks at a time at sea with my wife Linda and eventually with my young family. Overtime I started noticing that my idea of the Great Barrier Reef as a pristine wonderland didn’t match with what I was observing.  Once I started to notice there were less and less fish then I changed my life more and more.

Getting researchers out to the reef
In the early 1980s the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chartered my commercial fishing and charter vessel to study what was the state of the newly formed Marine Park. Having the different researchers on board opened my eyes to the lack of funds and access to remote reefs for research and the excitement and wonder of the reef critters as portrayed by the in depth knowledge and enthusiasm of the researchers . The concept of harnessing the adventure diving dollar to fund research was born.

In 1995 I embarked on a journey to fulfil my youthful dreams when I joined forces with Rino and Diana Grollo to start ‘Undersea Explorer’. The vision of the Undersea Explorer was to create a “new Calypso,” where adventure divers could join researchers for unique and heightened reef experiences. There are few research vessels on the Great Barrier Reef and even fewer with regular access. While the adventure diving for the tourist is a priority, the Undersea Explorer provides funding for a multitude of research projects, access to key reef areas and  employment and support for marine scientists and students. 

My business has flourished. The week-long trip offered by Undersea Explorer received rave reviews from its passengers. Further, the vessel has also provided an important base for research into shark biology, dwarf minke whale biology and human / whale interactions, water quality, florescent corals, bio-erosion as well as the elusive nautilus. A procession of researchers has undertaken all manner of activities, and a number of high quality documentaries have been made onboard.

Uncertain future for the reef and the communities that it supports
Despite my success in assisting with environmental reef management issues like water quality protection plan and the rezoning of protected areas on the Great Barrier Reef from 4.5 % to 33%, I am still very concerned about the future. Not only for the Reef, but for the community in which I lives and the landscape around my home. My initial concern about declining fish numbers has spread to the damage caused by nutrient-rich farm run-off on the Reef’s inshore areas.

Coral bleaching and the Crown of Thorns starfish: major threats to the reef
However what worries me the most is the threat of coral bleaching caused by global warming. Seeing a bleached reef for the first time is a ghostly experience. A seemingly healthy vibrant and colourful reef can go to a bleached wasteland within a week or two.

Aside from my concern about the impacts on the health of the Reef, my thoughts turned to the impacts that coral bleaching may have on my business and community. The first time I saw bleaching as distinctly different from Crown of Thorns feeding scars was about 6 years ago and now it’s common. I have lost about 10 % of my dive sites to Crown of Thorns and bleaching in the past 4 years and I know what’s happened in the Caribbean and the Maldives – if that happens here – what will we show the guests?

Pressures on coral reefs by local influences like declining water quality which triggers outbreaks of coral predators like the Crown of Thorns Starfish, can potentially make the impacts of climate change much worse. The recent outbreaks of the Crown of Thorns Starfish are believed to be linked to an increase in nutrients that has occurred within Great Barrier Reef waters over the past 50 years.

We’re very lucky here in Port Douglas – we have the World heritage rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef…but everyone comes here because it’s nature tourism… to connect with nature… if we don’t have a healthy environment to show these people they will become removed from the natural word they depend on, and end up going to Disneyland.

The impact on tourism will be massive
With tourism in the Great Barrier Reef catchments producing revenue of about $5.5 billion annually and employing over 60,000 people, I have good reason to be worried. 

We must listen to the thousands of climate scientists and look into our hearts for what is obviously the truth and take corrective steps to adjust our behaviour. Just like the cigarette companies’ lied about tobacco, we are being lied to by the oil companies and the status quo politicians.