Understanding ship-grounding impacts on a coral reef: potential effects of anti-foulant paint contamination on coral recruitment

摘要

The 184 m cargo ship Bunga Teratai Satu collided with Subury Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef and remained grounded for 12 days. The ship was re-floated only 3 days prior to the November 2000 mass coral spawning. No cargo or fuel was lost but the impact resulted in significant contamination of the reef with anti-foulant paint containing tributyltin (TBT), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). Larvae of the reef-building scleractinian coral Acropora microphthalma were exposed to various concentrations of sediment collected form the grounding site in replicated laboratory experiments.