An excellent post that exposes the vulgarity of the 'GBR crowd. I can only applaud the Chinese and Indian governments responsible for the huge increases in affordable energy they are providing for their populations. The millions of people being lifted from abject poverty to a dignified standard of living and life for them and their children is nothing short of a miracle.

Walter thanks for a great article. I wonder if simple facts can convince any indoctrinated greenies. I have tried to explain to greenies that compared to the silt that comes from the Fitzroy & Berdican in even a minor fresh, all the dredging's by us since European settlement through out Oz is just a drop in ocean. A quick look at all the hundreds of square miles of mud banks in Keppel bay confirm that.

I have sailed the waters, & built jetties on atolls a hundred miles from any solid bit of land, & anchored many nights in reef waters not far from Abbott point. I could see my anchor lying on the bottom at Net reef, just as I could at Kapingamarangi, a couple of hundred miles from anywhere.

Luddy you regularly go off about fossil fuels, but you have never given any logical reason. Surely it can't be because of a few drill holes, or the small, in the scope of the continent or planet, holes left from coal extraction.

With no real reason given I can only assume it is an emotional response, or a dislike of the energy that has given us, including you & your greenie mates, our pleasant & safe lifestyle. After all it is only fossil fuels that has allowed us peasants to gain a university education, then travel the country, & the world following our profession.

Now I agree we should be limiting population, particularly in Oz, but also on the planet. However forcing people to live without the comfort, health care, support & food that we have enjoyed doesn't attract me much to the cause.

It is only by the grace of fossil fuels that we are not still digging holes by hand to plant seed, & praying for rain.

I have lived the simple life, where 10 gallons of petrol/diesel & 20 pounds of gas [LPG] would supply all my needs for 3 months, but had I suffered any of my heart attacks out there I would not have survived. Whishing that on people is a bit harsh

So Luddy please explain in simple terms, what is wrong with using our fossil fuels for the good of all.

Hasbeen.
"Now I agree we should be limiting population". Whilst this is a laudable objective, the method of doing so is the difficulty. Much reading later, the only methods I have found that are successful in doing so are:
(a) allow the latest plague affecting African States to be 'let loose', similar to 'the plague' that affected Europe at the time of Justinian.
(B) instigate the Chinese solution with 1 child per couple and try to cope with the attendant unintended consequences and
(c) harness the by product of cheap available energy, most immediately in the form of coal, to generate wealth, resulting in a commensurate self directed reduction in the birth rate as demonstrated by most of Europe, Japan etc.

Yes Prompete,. I can only agree.

If China, India & some other countries were wealthy enough to afford an old age pension, I think the population growth problem would quickly become a thing of the past, as it would be here, if we had a more reasonable immigration plan.

Of course that means energy, & a little less war between religious groups.

One can only hope.

Meanwhile wouldn't it be good to get some sense from our academics. I had quite a bit of contact with some while setting up & running reef tourism. Most of them were such dills it was not worth discussing anything with them.

It transpired most of their research was conducted in little tanks behind the office. A couple of tourist operators had to help them with techniques to get any success with getting things in tanks to live long enough to get even doubtful results.

I also supported a number of PhD students, doing research out on the reef, with transport, tinnies & accommodation at our facility. Most of them were quite smart, & did good work. I wonder if that continued when they needed university posts?

I was hoping they would find walking on the reef was damaging, & get it banned. When you have a busy day, with over 200 people walking on the reef, the budget for Mercurochrome to put on the cuts is huge. Unfortunately they found no difference where we walked tourists to anywhere else.

I am always amused by cries of damage to the reef when a ship runs aground. Hardy reef lagoon, where we operated is over 7000 acres, & Hook, & Line reefs in the same area have semi enclosed lagoon each. Judging by the amount of guano the birds could cover our pontoon with in a couple of days with no people, they'd love a few wrecks to perch on at night.

Each ship travelling the length of the Inner Route has an allowance of 400 litres loss of oil into the water. Some 6000 tourists a day slapping on an average of 100ml of sunscreen ? Well, do your own maths.
Last time I posted Dr Starck's writing on olo absolutely no interest was shown about a year ago. What happened since ? Is the bandwagon being refurbished for our academics ?
The Ok Tedi Gold mine in PNG also supplies the northern reefs with chemicals & other poison.
The reefs at the northern GBR are ever so slowly silting up.