Every evening, as the catamaran returns to shore, it deposits their shit and shower water in the shipping channel between the rainforest and reef. Australia prides itself on its eco-tourism. The marine park authority and the wet tropics management authority are the chief conservation bodies charged with preserving the reef and the rainforest.
Tourism is seen as one use.
Both bodies closely monitor and manage the impact of tourism on their territories. Their fates are inextricably linked. Sheriden Morris of the marine park authority judges water quality to be the biggest long-term threat to the reef. If this water becomes too nitrate-rich from farmers' fertilisers and locals' sewage systems, green algae flourish, smothering and killing the coral. Quicksilver prides itself on its environmental record.