Hasbeen,
My experience of the GBR is underwater, not sipping cocktails or a beer on the surface.

Cope with this GBR experience and knowledge of GBR waters if you can, Hasbeen.

I have been towed about 3 metres deep underwater feet first backwards at 4 to 6 knots for a total of 40 hours inside a giant lure to capture world first scenes of giant black marlin attacking baits, for a film I produced from the marlin's point of view.
That was before fishcam technology that anyway is unable to tell of the face to face experience and see other phenomena.

In other words I have travelled about 200 nautical miles underwater along the outside face of the GBR.
My experience on the GBR began in the 1960's.

A friend said to me just a few years ago, "at least we saw it the way it was".

Now in 2014 I see evidence of the damage and change from various news video. And what a laugh that is.
The ABC even shows GBR coral bleaching in a still picture that also shows a massive invasive algae bloom, but the news people don't see that.
From my point of view that algae bloom has smothered that coral, leading to that coral turning white, bleaching they call it.
Of course all the coral is not gone but there is vast loss and damage, including from COTS is some areas.

Larvae of COTS feed on algae proliferated by sewage and land use nutrient pollution, or maybe you believe the news spin it's all from farmers.

I think ecological civilization is possible in the modern world and I think vast business and employment opportunities could be developed from new industry repairing the water ecosystem environment of this planet, instead of blindly destroying it.

But the knockers and the all ok and blind and don't worry about that merchants, have to wake up first.