It could be too late to reverse the effects of coral bleaching in large swathes of the Great Barrier Reef caused by man-made climate change, a leading academic fears.
Professor Justin Marshall, from The University of Queensland's CoralWatch team, has just spent 10 days at the Lizard Island Research Station, north of Cairns, gathering data and images of coral bleaching in the northern part of the reef.
Prof Marshall said almost all of the coral in a 500km stretch of the reef was bleached and about half of that coral was dead because of the bleaching.
He said sometimes coral could recover from bleaching, where it becomes white after losing the symbiotic algae that brings it nutrients, but when there was large-scale coral death like in this situation, it was far less likely.
"The absolute figures are unknown and our research is ongoing to determine that," Prof Marshall said.
"Over the next few months we'll be able to give you an answer, but to be honest I'm a bit pessimistic."
Prof Marshall said the coral bleaching in the area was the worst he'd ever seen it.
"I have kids, I love to take them up to the reef, but to be honest, I would have been ashamed to take my children up there this time," he said.
He said global warming was causing coral bleaching, which wasn't helped by El Nino conditions this year.
"There is an additional natural fluctuation, but that must not deflect our realisation that this is definitely a man-made, carbon-emission event, which is killing the Australian reef," Prof Marshall said.
Environment Minister Steven Miles said the footage Prof Marshall's CoralWatch team had returned with was "utterly upsetting".
"It's disturbing to see reefs that ... are now ghostly white," he said.
The warning comes a year after the government launched its Reef 2050 Plan for long-term sustainability of the natural wonders.
Dr Miles said the government had made substantial progress implementing the plan, including committing $100 million over five years towards water-quality initiatives and research.
He said former Prime Minister Tony Abbott had been supportive of the plan and called on his successor, Malcolm Turnbull, to demonstrate the same level of commitment by visiting the Great Barrier Reef.
"I have no doubt that if he could see this footage first-hand, if he could see these reefs first-hand, he would step up and he would deliver for Australia a decent plan to address climate change as well as additional support for our efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef," Dr Miles said.
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