More than half of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral has disappeared over the past 27 years.

Australia’s iconic tourist attraction, the Great Barrier Reef, is disappearing at an alarming rate with recent research revealing the reef has lost more than half its coral over the past 27 years.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said the reef’s threat is dire and the loss of coral could halve again by 2022.

According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority up to two million tourists visits the Barrier Reef each year.

While coral bleaching and storms are also a threat to the reef, infestations of crown-of-thorns starfish attribute to nearly half of the reef’s destruction.

The Institute chief executive John Gunn said that while the storms could not be stopped, more could be done to reduce the impact of the deadly starfish.

Scientists have come up with a Vegemite-like beef extract that can be injected into the crown-of-thorns starfish that will kill it with its own bacteria, the ABC reported.

While the trials have been successful, scientists stress that it is not a magic cure as each starfish will have to be individually infected still.