Overview of the GBR Marine Monitoring Program 2019-2020

Every year the Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program (MMP) assesses the condition of water quality within the inshore Reef, and surveys coral and seagrass habitats to determine how they are responding to a range of pressures. This Overview synthesises their condition throughout 2019-20, and describes trends since 2005.

The greatest environmental influence in the 2019-20 summer was high summer sea temperatures. It was much warmer than the preceding year. No major cyclones made landfall. It was also much drier: there was less rainfall in the catchment and less river discharge flowing into the Reef than average….