Marine researchers have documented the first evidence of coral bleaching on Western Australia's Kimberley coast, locating several large, bleached corals at Reddell Beach in Broome.

"What's important is that this appears to be quite a significant event," said Kimberley Marine Research Station director James Brown to the ABC.  "There's been coral bleaching before, and in fact small-scale coral bleaching is part of normal reef dynamics, but seeing large-scale coral bleaching is something that has not been reported ever before on the in-shore Kimberley coast."

Scientists had been expecting this.  The Great Barrier Reef is undergoing traumatic bleaching, which is caused by rising ocean temperatures associated with man-made global warming.  It kills the tiny marine algae which give the coral its color, and - assuming a reef isn't too far gone - recovery takes a long time. 

"It takes many years, if not decades, for reefs to recover from severe bleaching events, and we're beginning to see cumulative bleaching events affecting the reefs within periods of a decade," said Marine Scientist James Gilmour, who is about to set off on a voyage to the Scott and Ashmore Reefs to determine their health.