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Australian government plans to protect the Great Barrier Reef are inadequate, short-sighted and will not prevent its decline.

Climate change remains the most serious threat to the Great Barrier Reef and the outlook for the natural wonder is "poor".

Caribbean coral reefs could disappear within 20 years as overfishing has all but wiped out the fish that feast on coral-smothering algae, the UN and an international conservation watchdog warned.

Australia called a decision by UNESCO to defer listing the Great Barrier Reef as in danger "a win for logic", but environmentalists said it was a final warning.

Time is running out for Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef, with climate change set to wreck irreversible damage by 2030 unless immediate action is taken.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on Friday approved the dumping of up to three million cubic metres of dredge waste in park waters in a move blasted by environmentalists.

Australia launched a probe Wednesday into the agency responsible for protecting the Great Barrier Reef after some board members were urged to resign over alleged conflicts of interest related to the mining industry.

Scientists studying remote reefs off Australia said Thursday sharks played a fundamental role in coral health, with overfishing of the marine predators increasing reef vulnerability to global warming and disasters.

The United States Navy said Friday it will spearhead a search for four unarmed bombs it dropped over Australia's Great Barrier Reef and make sure they are safely removed.

The United States military said Monday it had jettisoned four unarmed bombs on Australia's Great Barrier Reef during a training exercise only because civilian boats had strayed into the drop zone.

Australia pledged another Aus$5 million (US$4.6 million) to the fight against a predatory starfish devastating the iconic Great Barrier Reef Thursday, revealing 100,000 of the creatures had been wiped out so far.

Australia hailed "solid" progress on water quality at the Great Barrier Reef Wednesday but admitted that overall conditions were now "poor" as it battles UNESCO threats to downgrade its heritage status.

Leading marine scientists warned the Australian government on Wednesday of the growing threat to the Great Barrier Reef from unchecked industrial development.

Six activists from conservation group Greenpeace boarded a coal carrier on the outskirts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Wednesday calling for an end to exports of the fuel.

The Philippines will ask the United States to pay 58 million pesos ($1.4 million) in compensation for damage caused by a US warship to a protected coral reef.

Furry crabs once thought to be damaging the Great Barrier Reef may in fact be helping save the coral by stopping the spread of disease.

Australia insisted Friday that protecting the Great Barrier Reef was a top priority, but conservationists WWF said not enough had been done to prevent UNESCO deeming it a world heritage site "in danger".

Australian scientists mapping the Great Barrier Reef have discovered corals at depths never before thought possible, with a deep-sea robot finding specimens in waters nearly as dark as night.

China's economic boom has seen its coral reefs shrink by at least 80 percent over the past 30 years, a joint Australian study found Thursday, with researchers describing "grim" levels of damage and loss.

An Australian research team said Monday they have found an effective way to kill the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish, which is devastating coral reefs across the Pacific and Indian oceans.