human tam- pering with the environment. Subsequent surveys, which were inade- quately financed and hampered the extent and remoteness of the rich coral cover, did little to discourage speculation by the news media and environmentalists that the Great Barrier Reef would eventually collapse, exposing the entire Queensland coast to the erosive force of the Pacific Ocean.
In the absence of effective means of dealing with the menace (hand collecting and chemical treatment proved either impractical or...