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"Sea World fully supports Reef Check Australia's South East Queensland Project. The fringing coral reefs in our area are vulnerable due to the many effects resulting from an increase in coastal development. Reef Check Australia is a fantastic initiative that has achieved huge outcomes on a tiny budget. I pledge the ongoing support of Sea World and would like to put a call out to individuals and businesses to help them to achieve their aims to protect our coral reefs." Trevor Long, Director of Marine Sciences | Sea World
Following the success of our flagship GBR project, Reef Check Australia's South East Queensland project was established in 2007 to monitor rocky reef sites between the Gold Coast, Brisbane area, and Sunshine Coast. These surveys take place from July to December each year.
This project provides valuable information where there is currently a serious gap in the data, as the condition of the fringing reefs is largely unknown. However, water quality pollution from continued urban development is a serious issue within the area, which includes Moreton Bay - a Ramsar Wetland site. Although these reefs differ from the tropical coral reefs to the north, they are a unique and important environment, encompassing tropical, subtropical and temperate species. It is imperative to assess the health of these reefs to ensure these valuable resources are understood and maintained so that human impacts can be identified and managed.
We are very proud that South East Queensland Catchments Natural Resource Management Board has expressed a desire to integrate Reef Check Australia data into their catchment database for use in their Water Quality Improvement Program. This follows from the great support they provided to help establish the program in 2007.
This project is sustained largely through ongoing help from major in-kind supporters like SEQ Catchments Ltd, who provide office space and advice. With support from the Australian Government and Sunshine Coast Regional Council, we have tremendously expanded our operations in SEQ over the past year. We are now working closely with more than a dozen local dive operators who are offering reduced fares for our volunteers and facilitating research in this area, now including almost 30 monitoring sites. Our enthusiastic volunteers continue to contribute their time and to make the most of this, we're seeking a Reef Partner to provide the funding we need to formalise and strengthen the project.
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