Southern Cross University Doctoral Researcher Kay Davis has found an island near Gladstone experienced remarkable coral growth after Cyclone Hamish destroyed much of the island’s coral in 2009.
Calcification of the coral declined by 75 percent in the first five years following the cyclone, but things changed dramatically in 2017 when Ms Davis and her team found the coral system increased four-fold.
Marine Biologist and resident naturalist guide on the island, Rachael Jones, says there has been no bleaching or coral disease because it is on the Southern part of the Great Barrier Reef where there is a green zone.