With its Marine Park Authority running the International Coral Reef Initiative, Australia has become the guardian of the world's reefs. It also boasts a vast number of protected wrecks. Marine life is protected by zoning the reef to separate conflicting activities. Development continues at a blistering pace. Tourism, the biggest industry in the region, is growing at 18 per cent a year.
Diving is the fastest-growing activity, but divers are taught to respect the reefs.
Few trips go out these days without there being a marine biologist among the crew. When I first came here from America a few years ago this wasn't the case. Financial incentives help too, he stresses. Operators taking day trips out to the reef always go to one particular pontoon for which they must buy a permit. This provides revenue for the authority, and it is in the operator's interests to ensure that the reef around the pontoon stays in pristine condition so that the punters keep coming.