The impacts of coral and shell collecting - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 129

introduced, by which time an industry had formed to supply the souvenir market
(Harriott, 2001, p11) . 2 Analysis of documentary records reveals that informal
coral collecting pre-dated the regulation of that fishery in Queensland; that
activity was both intensive and sustained at many locations in the Great Barrier
Reef. Evidence of the scale of the commercial coral collecting industry is found
in the records of the coral licences that were issued to professional collectors;
the surviving licences are held at the QSA. Some oral history sources, historical
books and photographs supplement those records with additional details of the
extent of coral collecting and its impacts. However, in the surviving records of
coral and shell-grit licences issued by the QDHM, uncertainty exists about the
precise use for which the permits were intended. The sequence of licences is
continuous with the licences that were issued for coral mining (see Chapter 11) ,
which initially took place for the manufacture of agricultural and industrial lime;
however, terrestrial sources of agricultural and industrial lime eventually replaced
lime manufactured from coral, and coral collected since the 1950s increasingly
supplied the curios and ornamental trades instea d. 3
Coral and shell collectors probably degraded reefs in similar ways, since they
removed target species from reefs and also damaged corals in the process by
reef-walking (see Chapter 12) . Coral and shell collecting form part of a group
of harvesting activities that have depleted many reef organisms, and to some
extent the distinctions between those activities are artificial; many collectors
collected a range of marine specimens of different types during their visits to
the Great Barrier Reef. Overall, the evidence presented in this chapter suggests
that significant, prolonged and widespread removal of both coral and shells has
occurred in the Great Barrier Reef since the earliest European exploration of the
ecosystem took place.
Coral collecting in the Great Barrier Reef
Early instances of the ornamental use of coral date at least to 1879, and the
collection of coral from the Great Barrier Reef for curios has taken place
continuously throughout the period of European settlement. In addition to the
collection of coral for curios and souvenirs, coral was also collected for scientific
investigations by early European explorers and naturalists since those aboard
the Endeavour in 1770. For instance, describing the scientific apparatus aboard
the Endeavour , one correspondent wrote to the renowned taxonomist, Carl von
Linné (Linnaeus):
No people ever went to sea better fitted out for the purpose of Natural
History. They have got a fine library of Natural History; they have […] all
kinds of nets, trawls, drags and hooks for coral fishing; they have even a
curious contrivance of a telescope, by which, put into the water, you can see
the bottom at great depth.
(cited in Beaglehole, 1955, p cxxxvi)