7 new insights into the Great Barrier Reef Region

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been working with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) to create the Great Barrier Reef Ecosystem Accounts, experimental estimates 2022–23. This information will support various Reef programs and inform policy making, including the review and update of the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan.

These accounts measure ecosystem extent, condition and services provided by the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region. The GBR extends across 42.7 million hectares of land, from Cape York to Bundaberg, where catchments flow into 35.2 million hectares of marine environment within and adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

View the full release for more information on the Great Barrier Reef region and the insights below.

Tourism in the Great Barrier Reef region is almost back to pre-COVID levels, with over 2.2 million commercial visits to the GBR Marine Park in 2022–23, with ecosystems contributing $10.3 million to recreational activities. 

Tourism in the region generated $5.3 billion in gross regional product (GRP) during 2022–23, along with 49,035 jobs and a tourism consumption of $13.0 billion. In comparison, Agriculture is also a major contributor to the region, contributing 41,883 jobs and $6.2 billion in Gross Value of Agricultural Production in 2020–21.

The majority of residents in the region felt that the reef improved their wellbeing, with 88.8 per cent agreeing that visiting the reef helps them unwind and de-stress and 86.2 per cent agreeing that visiting the reef has a physical benefit.

The introduction of more precautionary management and reforms like sustainable catch limits and reduced licenses have created a fall in the number of fish caught since 2017–18, dropping from 9,154 tonnes to 6,130 tonnes of wild fish provided to fisheries in 2021–22. Despite this, the marine realm still provided a service value of $5.4 million (down from $7.0 million).

Mangroves and Saltmarsh protected 21,062 dwellings and 45,163 people across the Great Barrier Reef region from storm and tidal surges in 2021–22. While the Fitzroy and Cape York regions contained the largest extents of Mangroves and Saltmarsh, Mackay Whitsunday residents found themselves with the most dwellings protected thanks to their higher population density along the coast.

Ecosystems contributed to the production of 6.55 million tonnes of sugarcane in the Great Barrier Reef region in 2022–23, worth $82.4 million. The Townsville area maintained its status as one of Australia’s oldest and most productive sugarcane producing areas, representing 39.8 per cent of all ecosystem contribution to sugar cane production in the Great Barrier Reef region.

The Great Barrier Reef region retained 196 million tonnes of carbon (MtC) in 2021–22, at a value of $337.4 million across blue carbon ecosystems (Mangroves, Saltmarsh and Seagrass meadows). These blue carbon ecosystems also sequestered 2,564,790 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) over the year, taking the carbon out of our atmosphere.