Shark expert says the Reef can be saved

Valerie Taylor, 82, has been diving with sharks and other marine life along with her late husband Ron since the 1950s.

The pair were even consulted before Jaws was turned into a movie to see if it was a filmable story, and made all the natural footage of great whites used in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film and the sequel.

Taylor has also been diving in the Great Barrier Reef since the 1960s and has seen how, when left alone, it can repair itself. "In 1967 I saw incredible bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and horrific crown-of-thorns (starfish) damage.

My husband and I said 'It's finished' and when we got our own boat in 1981 we went back to those reefs and they were beautiful. They'd been left alone," she said.

"If it's left alone, nature will take care of it, it will come back."Almost half of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef is dead because of human activity, and Taylor doesn't see it returning to its natural glory again.

UCJ, UNILORIN.