Well, not exactly. Marine biologists are streaming out of our universities, high on government grants and eager to prove we are destroying our reefs. What you are actually looking at in this photo is a future sandy beach. In time, (time is something the Greens seem incapable of comprehending) waves will pulverise this dead coral into fine granules that will wash up to the shoreline to replenish a beautiful beach.

I recently asked a marine biologist where sand comes from and was told, “It’s washed earth from eroding shorelines”... and that’s how the argument started.

I was in a pub with some friends and talking to a tanned sheila with close-set sparkling eyes who had just returned from a fully-funded marine field trip. “Well, what about the sand on the floor of our five-mile deep oceans? Two thirds of our globe’s area?”, I asked. “Yes, the eroded soil finds its way there.”

Now I left school at 13 and have no right to debate with the educated elite but fair dinkum, I was finding this hot sheila intellectually unattractive. “And I suppose different coloured sands are simply different coloured eroded soils?”  “Of course”, she said with a smile, thinking the penny had finally dropped.

“So how do you explain the blindingly white sands that wash up on the red soil of Broome? What about the white sands of Hawaii that wash on to volcanic magma or a thousand other places there is no soil to erode? Is it possible that rolling ocean waves have dumped that sand there over millions of years?”

“Well”, she said earnestly, “soil erosion can be distributed to all sorts of places by ocean currents.” I was fast losing interest in her boobs and anyway it was my shout. When I returned the conversation had turned to Clive.

Green students only think in terms of ecological “disasters” and are “educated” by Green teachers. Gross misinformation keeps regurgitating itself to the next generation without question. It’s like a closed clique of self-indoctrinated clowns who have never ventured a lateral thought.

Of course the oceans generate their own sand and rolling waves then distribute it to our beaches. The sand itself is pulverised coral and shellgrit. The more it is washed and exposed to the sun the whiter it gets.

The newfound enemy of the Greens, the Crown of Thorns starfish, is no enemy of coral. Certainly it has been attacking coral for billions of years but it’s a vital link in the regeneration of reefs. Just as natural fire reinvigorates our bush, cyclones reinvigorate our reefs.

Where cyclones are infrequent the Crown of Thorns starfish fills the role allowing for new, more resilient growth, providing food for inhabitants.

And one of those reef inhabitants that contributes to our white sandy beaches is the unique parrot fish. Next time you go snorkling just watch those colourful little buggers carefully.

Their fused teeth are used to scrape and bite coral, and you can actually hear them gnawing away at it.

These parrot fish don’t have stomachs, their coral meals pass straight through one long intestine and, when spooked, they will dash off, exploding clouds of white sand out their bums.

Larger parrot fish will produce as much as 850 pounds of sand per year. It doesn’t take many of these numerous parrot fish to contribute hundreds of tons of white sand per year to waiting beaches.

Worms carry out a similar role, sponges and oysters also produce ocean sand, albeit on a much smaller scale, but no marine animal is as proficient as the parrot fish.

Hawaiians call the fish Uhu, which translates to “loose bowel”.

Everything the Greens told us was an environmental disaster is now, or is in the process of becoming, an even more resilient and thriving eco system.

A Green will tell you that higher ocean temperatures are decimating our reefs. Really? The Red Sea with an average water temperature of 30deg C has coral reefs that eclipse ours for sheer beauty.

When I go snorkling I see magical regeneration. When a hot marine biologist goes snorkling she sees only destruction.

L Fedeli