Great Barrier Reef won't recover from warm waters impact ever: Scientists

Warm seas around the reef killed some two-thirds of a 700 kilometre stretch of coral last year

Parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef will never recover from the impact of unseasonably warm waters, scientists said on Thursday, as more of the World Heritage Site comes under renewed threat from a recent spike in sea temperatures.

Warm seas around the reef killed some two-thirds of a 700 kilometre (496.4 miles) stretch of coral last year after warm water caused the coral to expel living algae, triggering it to calcify and turn white, a process known as bleaching. That was the worst die-off of coral ever recorded at the reef.

Even the areas that survived will not recover to