More than 150 scientists have written to the Australian government urging it to rein in development near the Great Barrier Reef.

Marine scientists from 33 institutions have signed a statement warning of the consequences of industrial developments planned for the Queensland coast.

They say there’s no doubt construction of new ports, large-scale dredging and the increase in cargo ships will hasten the decline of the World Heritage-listed natural wonder.

Ecologist Hugh Possingham says that in the last 27 years, half of the reef’s coral cover has been degraded.

“If half of Ayers Rock was being chipped away by random tourists in the last 27 years, first of all I would hope we would be trying to stop that and secondly we wouldn’t be trying to add to that,” the University of Queensland professor told AAP.

“The public have to know about the risks of future development.”

Scientists from James Cook University, University of Hawaii, University of Melbourne, UTS and CSIRO are among the league of professionals calling for action.

The letter calls on the Australian and Queensland governments not to construct new ports outside existing industrial port areas and develop a new strategy to better manage coastal development.

The World Heritage Committee meets in 12 days and will discuss whether the reef should be listed as a World Heritage site “in danger”, as recommended by UNESCO, the environmental arm of the United Nations.

A UNESCO report last month found 43 development proposals in the vicinity of the reef were under assessment and that the federal and state governments had failed to improve water quality in the area.

Possingham said scientists had been concerned about the reef for a long time.

“We don’t say things lightly and we don’t spend our time on this sort of stuff for free,” he said.

“It’s up to governments to decide what are risks they’re willing to bear and how they trade off economic development versus the environment.

“We just want the facts on the table.”