In April 2016 I submitted an article to The Marine Professional - a publication of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST) focusing on the mass bleaching event that had hit the Great Barrier Reef at the time. In their September 2016 issue, The Marine Professional featured a comment from a reader, in which he stated that he shared the article with Dr. Russell Reichelt - chair of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The reader alleged that Dr Reichlet told him that the article "contains some accurate things mixed with half truths and alarmism". After liaising with Dr Reichelt's office*, I am pleased to be able to set the record straight on what he did - or rather did not say.
*I did contact Dr Reichelt directly, but he replied via his office not directly.
After corresponding with Dr Reichelt's office to determine where the "half truths and alarmism" were in the article, I have been informed that, whilst Dr Reichelt recalls the article being brought to his attention, he never made any such comments about the article. In fact, he hadn't even seen the article to comment on in the first place. He has since read the piece and agrees that it is factual.
I have not attempted to contact the reader to find outwhere his comment came from.
For those who want to see the article after it has been through their editorial process, please see the June 2016 edition of The Marine Professional.