She said in shallower areas known for their clear waters, which are popular with tourists, she had seen up to 90% of corals bleached and evidence of corals dying. Even slow-growing corals that were hundreds of years old were bleaching, she said.

Richards said: “This isn’t isolated to Ningaloo – this is happening across the entire north-west shelf. There has never been this scale of impacts in WA. I am not aware of this ever happening before. Climate change has definitely caught up with the reefs in WA.”

Lizard Island’s section of the Great Barrier Reef has been bleached for the last six years:

Howells said there was less coral mortality this year, “but that’s because a lot of the sensitive corals died last summer”. “There just isn’t enough opportunity for these coral communities to bounce back. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.

So many ecosystems are being destroyed forever