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AP File. Ian Cole, a tourist from Michigan, was snorkeling Australia's Great Barrier Reef on Saturday when his dive tour boat left without him.
An image of the island and nearby coral reefs taken with the Seaview SVII camera. Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.The island lies 46 nautical miles (85 km; 53 mi) north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately 45 hectares (110 acres).
In 1981, the Great Barrier Reef was inscribed on the world heritage list. [10] Tourism is regarded to be an important way that Australia can fulfill its duty to present the Great Barrier Reef in accordance with the world heritage convention. [6] In the 1980s, tourism in the Great Barrier Reef region expanded rapidly. [11]
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, [1] [2] composed of over 2,900 individual reefs [3] and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi).
North West Island is a coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef, located 75 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland.North West Island forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park and with an area of 1.05 km 2, the island is the second largest coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef.
The island is situated on the leeward (western) side of Heron Reef, a fringing platform reef of significant biodiversity, supporting around 900 of the 1,500 fish species and 72% of the coral species found on the Great Barrier Reef. [2] During the summer months Heron Island is also home to over 200,000 birds including Noddy Terns and Mutton Birds.
The barrier is widest in the north with a maximum width of about one kilometre (0.62 miles) and narrows to the south to a width of about 100 to 200 metres (330 to 660 feet). [12] The barrier, which consists mainly of aeolian sands, extends more than 30 metres (98 feet) below the present sea level in places.
The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is the largest coral reef system in the world [6] and a popular tourist destination. [7] In the 1980s, Australian tour operators wished to further exploit the reef's tourism potential through making trips faster and shorter, or through creating off-shore accommodation for tourists. [8]