…the (1960s) researchers shrugged off the discovery at the time, burying the find in a brief paragraph in a 130-something-page report.

They may have wanted the reef to survive through obscurity, knowing that their own survey was to “discover potentially trawlable seabeds”.

“We will be advocating for its full protection, perhaps by setting up a marine protected area around it,”

I was glad to read that, particularly after an earlier quote saying the reef was “producing more fish for communities and supporting livelihoods”, which just sounded like it was going to get exploited and destroyed now it was rediscovered. Hopefully they’ve kept the location a secret until they can get the protection in place.

Nature finds a way and our idiots in charge will probably help someone try to “kill” it again because there is some rare valuable resource underneath.