Humans 'more destructive than tsunami'.

(From Bulletin Wire)

Byline: Roberta Mancuso

Humans have made more of an impact on coral reefs in Indonesia's Aceh province than the devastating Boxing Day tsunami, researchers have discovered.

The findings, published in the international science magazine Current Biology, found "chronic human misuse" had far greater repercussions for reefs closest to the epicentre of the Sumatra-Andanaman earthquake, which triggered the killer wave on Boxing Day last year.

Researchers from north Queensland's James Cook University (JCU) and Indonesian ecologists found damage to reefs on the north-west coast of Aceh Indonesia, where the tsunami was most ferocious, was "surprisingly limited".

In contrast, on reefs exposed to destructive human practices such as dynamite and cyanide fishing, and to land runoff from fertilisers and sediment, had turned once vibrant coral colonies into "graveyards".

"The tsunami-related damage we saw was mainly to large colonies growing in sand and rubble that had been excavated from underneath," said Andrew Baird, a senior research fellow at JCU's Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity.