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In reply to the discussion: US drops bombs on Great Barrier Reef Marine Park [View all]Violet_Crumble
(35,961 posts)The bombs were unarmed and dropped in a deep channel, not on the Reef itself, which makes up only about 7% of the area of the Marine Park. What has in the past caused massive environmental damage is ships in the area, the worst being in 2010 when a Chinese cargo ship went way off course, grounded on the Reef, and caused a huge oil spill which caused permanent damage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Great_Barrier_Reef_oil_spill
I was pretty shocked to find out it's not mandatory for ships travelling there to have a pilot on board. I was on an American cruise ship in April, which did have a pilot when we went through there and the Whitsundays, but that must have been because the cruise company was doing the right thing, and I doubt many cargo ships would do the same thing...
btw, last thing I heard about this was that the US military and the ADF are working on retrieving the bombs...