Broken Barrier
Great, indeed: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, shown here, extends across more than 1,200 miles of sea along the Queensland coast. Long hailed as one of the world’s natural wonders, the reef is the biggest structure made by living organisms on earth.

It is also among the most threatened. For decades, researchers have warned that Australia’s booming fisheries industry poses a risk to the fish and fragile microorganisms that live within the reef.

But in early December, Australian politicians proposed a new conservation measure that would turn one-third of the Great Barrier Reef –- an area almost the size of Japan –- into protected space.

The proposal would add 40,000 square miles to the currently protected area, which covers less than 7,000 square miles. In protected areas, fishing is banned but tourism is permitted. The proposal is expected to become law by mid-2004.

This picture was captured in 1999 by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper on NASA’s Landsat 7 satellite.

NASA