End coral harvesting on the Great Barrier Reef – support aquaculture

It’s a threat that not many people know about. Our Great Barrier Reef’s corals are being chipped away, coral by coral, piece by piece.

The Great Barrier Reef is home to Australia’s largest coral fishery, with up to 190 tonnes harvested annually from our Reef. Some of our rarest and most unique corals are taken and sold into the global aquarium trade.

The Great Barrier Reef is an incredible ecosystem, but it’s under significant pressure from climate change. The increasing frequency and severity of mass bleaching events, as well as cyclones and floods, have led to the largest declines in coral cover on record.¹

These very same coral species affected by bleaching and mortality are being targeted by the fishery. The harvest of these healthy corals reduces our Reef’s ability to recover from disturbance events and undermines Reef restoration efforts.

But a solution already exists: tank-grown coral aquaculture.

Please add your voice to urge Australian Environment Minister, Murray Watt, to support the Queensland Coral Fishery to rapidly transition to tank-grown coral aquaculture.

Wild coral belongs on the Reef, not in the world’s aquariums.

By adding your name, an email will be sent to the Australian Environment Minister Murray Watt.

1: Australian Institute of Marine Science. (n.d.). Reef monitoring | Capricorn Bunker sector | Manta tow surveys. Retrieved August 26, 2025, from https://apps.aims.gov.au/reef-monitoring/sector/CB/manta

Header image: Heathcote, A. (2025, May 10). Queensland coral harvesting is big business. Some scientists are calling for a ‘rethink’. ABC News