Does the great barrier reef protect queensland from waves?
There is little or no surf along the parts of the Queensland coast that are sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef. There are still some waves, but they are nothing like the surf that can be found on other parts of the coastline in the south of Queensland and the rest of Australia. If you’re actually asking about whether the reef would protect us from tsunamis, yes it would to some extent but it would depend on the size of the tsunami and the width and distance from the shore of the reef at any given location and that is very variable. The oil spill from the grounded coal carrier was well contained and while a little has been washed up on a couple of islands including one that is an important nesting site, the damage appears to be minimal and easily rectified. It was first thought to be worse than later inspections have shown and cleanup crews are already at work. As Bingalee has said, authorities are more concerned about the gouge in a section of the reef that may have been contaminated
