reef check australia news desk

Busy survey season

The Reef Check Australia team has been busy recently out surveying. Already this year we have done a survey at Currumundi on the Sunshine Coast and also a dive at the Gold Coast Seaway. We are hoping to complete the SEQ season very soon and then will be busy getting the GBR Surveys underway in February.

Coral Sea Marine Reserve

Have your say! Visit the website if you want to learn more about the new Coral Sea Marine Reserve proposal or speak your mind on the current plan. You can make an online comment or attend one of the public forums in Central & North QLD throughout December.

Survey, surveys, surveys

Thanks to generous support from the Sunshine Coast Council Community Partnership Funding Program & OceanWatch, we've be been out and about surveying. This funding will support our Sunshine Coast surveys for the next 3 years, helping to truly ensure a sustainable long-term monitoring program and lots of diving opportunities for our volunteers!

We've also been awarded funding for surveys on the inshore reefs around Townsville through Townsville City Council's Creek to Coral program via an Australian Government Caring for Our Country grant. Our volunteers will be monitoring fringing reefs around Magnetic Island as well as several nearshore reefs that may have been impacted by Cyclone Yasi. Surveys will start early in the new year.

GNS Watch Launch!

The Grey Nurse Shark Watch database is up and running, launched on World Environment Day to showcase this fantastic collaborative effort to protect this critically engangered species. Reef Check Australia is hosting this database, offering more opportunities for community members to take direct action to help protect our reefs and oceans.

GNS Watch is looking for both opportunistic sightings and volunteers who want to become official site custodians and monitor one of the key GNS shark locations for the upcoming winter survey season in July/August. Sign up as a RCA member or edit your current membership status to enter your GNS data and photos online.

Reef Check Australia has been on the Best Expedition in the World! On May 21, 2011, Ben Southall, former recipient of the Best Job in the World and current Queensland Tourism Ambassador set off to paddle, pedal and sail a Hobie kayak more than 1600km along the Great Barrier Reef. For four months he explored the reef, reporting on his adventures along the way. Through this amazing adventure, Ben hoped to “encourage more people from around the world to experience the Great Barrier Reef for themselves, to engage in active participation in research and protection of the reef for future generations.”

Reef Check Australia helped with this goal through the launch and pilot of REEFSearch, our new public engagement program that allows any snorkeler or diver to hop in, take a closer look at the reef they visit and share their findings. We joined Ben on Lady Elliot Island May 22-25 to launch this new program with the help of four tourism students from University of the Sunshine Coast. We has a blast! Since then we've run multiple pilot events with backpackers on Magnetic Island, UQ UniDive Club members in Brisbane, students & teachers at Bwgcolman Community School on Palm Island and with UQ Geography students on Heron Island. We'll be showing off REEFSearch at ODEX too--so come check it out!

Stay up-to-date with all of the exciting activities via Ben’s blog, here on the RCA website or on our NEW Facebook page!