In response, the opposing camp countered that the coastal areas in question began developing as a tourist hot spot in 1960, leading to increased pollution from sewage, and that, not the fish farming that had only cropped up in the last 20 years, was responsible for the reef's decline.
隨後，對手又以該地區 1960 年代開始就因為海岸線開發、都市廢水污染、觀光等因素已使珊瑚礁逐漸惡化，而箱網養殖不過才出現 20 年加以反駁。