A controversial decision to halt commercial and recreational fishing across vast areas of the Great Barrier Reef has proven remarkably effective for reviving coral trout numbers. “Everyone is a little surprised,” admits Garry Russ, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Townsville. “We’ve seen a consistent pattern of recovery of coral trout from just north of Cairns to as far south as Heron Island,” he says. “It’s an extraordinarily large area.”

Original post by Ketaketa and software by Elliott Back