Dear {{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}
As the year draws to a close, our team of amazing volunteers will be taking a well earned short break over the Christmas period. We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, safe and festive season and thank you for your continued support. If you are looking for a last minute gift for your loved ones, why not Adopt A Reef? Check out our website for more details.
This months email includes:
- Action of the Month: That's a Wrap!
- News from the Field
- Brain Food
- Current Coral Affairs
- Get With the Program
That's a Wrap!
Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash
As many of us rush to wrap up all the things we are supposed to have completed by the end of the year; the work projects, the house projects, the art projects etc, its easy to forget to look back at what we have accomplished, and appreciate how far we have come this year. Last month we spoke about taking the time to reflect, learn and celebrate. So following on from last months action is this months action; to wrap up and slow down.
“Every task, goal, race and year comes to an end…therefore, make it a habit to FINISH STRONG.” ― Gary Ryan Blair
So lets finish the year strong, accomplish the goals that we can, and let go of the ones we can't. Enjoy time off with friends, family, loved ones, and yourself. Living your life is more important than simply existing, so take some much deserved time off, because THATS A WRAP for this year!
News from the field
Stories and updates from our teams out & about. Check out some of these regional stories on our website!
South East Queensland
Kirra Reef Health Survey
Taking advantage of ideal surface conditions a couple of days in a row, our Reef Check Australia survey team headed out to Kirra Reef.
Kirra Reef is situated at the southern end of the Gold Coast and consists of scattered rocky outcrops that are covered in kelp and algae. It is approximately 400m from the shore, and is protected on three sides by land, making it accessible most of the year. Despite being close to shore, access by boat is recommended. It is approximately 100 metres in length and home to an array of soft corals, feather stars, anemones, cephalopods and an abundance of fish species. Eagle rays and turtles can often be spotted just off this reefal area.
Reef Check Australia has been monitoring Southeast Queensland reefs since 2007, and Kirra Reef since 2019, as part of a partnership with City of Gold Coast to monitor the health of reefs in the area.
The team were delighted to find the site full of marine life and relatively free of algae, having dived the site last year when the site had a lot more algal coverage. We love algae; but sometimes it can make conditions a little trickier. This time however, visibility for the fish surveyor was limited by the presence of a thick school of Yellowtail scad (Trachurus novaezelandiae) making it difficult to see target fish and the reef!
The site supports a large number of anemones and flowery soft corals and very little marine debris or damage was observed.
Reef Check Acknowledge and pay respects to the people of the Yugambeh language region of the Gold Coast and all their descendants both past and present. We also acknowledge the many Aboriginal people from other regions as well as Torres Strait and South Sea Islander people who now live in the local area and have made an important contribution to the community.
This survey was made possible by grant funding from the City of Gold Coast Catchment and Citizen Science Grant
Cook Island Reef Health Survey
Taking advantage of ideal surface conditions, our Reef Check Australia survey team headed down to Cook Island. Whilst technically in NSW, this site is of interest due to the large number of anemones that have historically been observed at this site, posing the question of whether this site provides seeds for Palm Beach Reef (which has a large number of anemones) or vice versa. Research on anemones in the region are still underway.
Reef Check Australia has been monitoring Southeast Queensland reefs since 2007, and Cook Island since 2019.
Great conditions greeted the team on site and although the visibility was a little cloudy the reef looked amazing with very little damage observed. There were a number of turtles resting and cruising around, along with two Blue Grouper. Whilst considered relatively common in NSW, this is a fish species not often sighted by our team. They are listed as IUCN near threatened with partial protection in NSW, however they currently have no protection in Queensland.
The Blue Grouper is endemic to Australia, and despite the name is not actually a grouper at all but a wrasse. Juveniles of the fish are brown to green brown and adult females are brown to reddish brown. Adult males are bright blue, hence the common name. We first spotted a Blue grouper at Kirra reef in 2020, and have only seen then on survey sites at Cook Island since.
Reef Check Australia acknowledges the generations of the local Aboriginal people of the Bundjalung Nation who have lived in and derived their physical and spiritual needs from the forests, rivers, lakes, streams and sea of this beautiful area over many thousands of years as the traditional custodians of these lands.
This survey was made possible by grant funding from the City of Gold Coast Catchment and Citizen Science Grant
Paddle for the Planet
What a day! With some beautiful conditions of sun and flat waters for the weekend, community members joined Reef Check Australia for the first of many ‘Paddle for the planet’ Stand up paddle board and clean up events.
30 people came together for the event, showcasing the importance of ‘all hands-on deck’ when tackling the marine debris issue. Teams of people paddled to key areas around the Maroochydore River mouth; along Mudjimba dog beach/twin waters area to Pincushion Island, around Goat Island and Channel Island, and up the smaller waterways towards the Sunshine Plaza, to document and remove debris found in each of these different areas. This forms part of a wider program to look at the ongoing impacts of the floods earlier in the year.
A total of 113kg, and 12 bags of debris was removed from the waterways, beaches and rocky walls along a 5.5km stretch of beach and water. Hundreds of pieces of small, hard plastic, cigarette butts and nylon rope was found along the high tide mark at Pincushion Island. Lightweight plastic packaging, cigarette waste, toys and single use consumer items were found amongst the rock walls, and along the high tide mark in amongst the mangrove areas on Goat Island. Hundreds of items of clothing, electronics, camping equipment and a variety of miscellaneous items from an abandoned camp area were also removed from Goat Island. This was also reported to local authorities.
Polystyrene is still being found at all sites; from small pieces to large chunks; suspected to be an ongoing impact from the February floods.
A massive thankyou to each and every individual who came out and lent a hand. It is only through such collaborations that such a huge impact is possible, so thankyou for donating your time and energy to keeping our beaches and waterways clean. Thankyou to @ocean Addicts for the boards! It simply wouldn’t be possible without your support, so thankyou!
Remember, every little bit counts. If you see rubbish on the beach; pick it up. Together, we can and will make an ocean of difference.
Reef Check Acknowledge the Kabi Kabi people of the Sunshine Coast, Traditional Custodians of the land and sea country on which these activities took place and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
This project has received funding support from the Queensland Government’s Community Sustainability Action grant program.
Great Barrier Reef
Forrest Beach Clean Up
Recently Reef Check Australia collaborated with Hinchinbrook Shire Council to conduct a clean-up event spanning across 6km of Forrest Beach! The northern section of this beach is well known by locals for the accumulation of marine debris, so it was expected that we’d collect a large amount on this day. In total, we collected approximately 120kg of debris, ranging from microplastics to whole buckets and crates, a flare kit, tyre, buoys, bleach bottles and more! Some of the most common items collected were hard plastic remnants (1397 plus 100s of microplastics), 366 plastic lids, 128 plastic drink bottles, 106 cigarette butts and 95 shoes/thongs.
An Ausmap micro plastics survey was conducted to assess and record microplastic pollution at the location. All of the debris were sorted and counted as part of Tangoroa Blues Reef Clean Project, contributing to a longer term, reef wide monitoring effort. All of the data collected ends up in the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database (AMDI), providing information about what debris are being found where to help determine the origins of the waste, and aid in reducing waste at the source to prevent it ending up in our marine environments.
A massive thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who joined us on Sunday to help keep our beaches clean! As well as Hinchinbrook Shire Council for your part in organising this event and Hinchinbrook Rural Supplies for lending a trailer to remove all of this waste.
Reef Check Acknowledge the Nywaigi people of the Whitsundays as the Traditional Owners of the land and sea country where these activities took place and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
This project has received funding support from the Queensland Government’s Community Sustainability Action grant program.
Butterfly Bay - Hook Island Surveys
This month we had the pleasure of resurveying Butterfly Bay at Hook Island. This is one of our favourite sites in the Whitsundays due to its high diversity of hard coral and soft coral, and fish life. This year we observed double the abundance of target fish species such as snapper, sweetlip, parrotfish, butterflyfish and coral trout compared to the last time we surveyed this reef 2 years ago.
Butterfly Bay is located with a green zone (no-take) of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and having areas that provide protection for sought-after fish species like the coral trout are thought to support the populations of these fish even outside of protected zones. Did you know that a 50cm coral trout can produce more than 3 x as many eggs as a 35cm coral trout??? We certainly saw some quite large coral trout this trip over 50cm in length!
Huge thankyou to Charlotte from Oceanrafting for joining us on her days off and John from Whitsundays Paradise Explorer for transporting and keeping our team safe on his vessel.
This project was made possible by support from the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Reef Check Acknowledge the Ngaro people of the Whitsundays as the Traditional Owners of the land and sea country where these activities took place. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Peter's Bay - Whitsundays - Surveys
Peters Bay is one of our newer survey sites established in 2020 after consultation with Ngaro Traditional Owners. The aim was to work with First Nations people to set up a site that is culturally significant in the Whitsundays and to continue monitoring the health of this site. Peters Bay is on the Eastern side of Whitsunday Island with a number of large porites bommies in the deeper areas, and is dominated by soft coral, giant clams and juvenile fish in the shallow section of the reef.
Huge thankyou to Charlotte from Oceanrafting for joining us on her days off and John from Whitsundays Paradise Explorer for transporting our team and gifting us the most delicious (and cutest) brownies from My Rainbow Bakery in Airlie Beach for celebrating the completion of this season of surveys in the Whitsundays!
This project was made possible by support from the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Reef Check Acknowledge the Ngaro people of the Whitsundays as the Traditional Owners of the land and sea country where these activities took place. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Brain Food
Reviews and details on books, documentaries, and podcasts that we have come across, & wanted to share.
Rewilding the Sea with Lewis Pugh and Charles Clover - listen as they discuss marine conservation.
So you want to be a Marine Biologist? Check out these interviews with people in the field.
Current Coral Affairs
Check out some of the latest news and research about our ocean
Get with the Program
Here's what we've got coming up in the next few weeks, keep checking the website for more updates.
Coast to Corals is taking a break until February 2022. We will keep you updated on our e-news.
Saturday 10 December | SUP and Beach Clean Up - email [email protected] for more details
Saturday 17 December | Beach Clean Up - Straddie
If you missed any of our Coast to Coral online events, remember you can always catch-up by taking a look at our YouTube Channel here 
Thanks for reading! If you want to help our work to empower more people to protect Australian reefs, please consider making a monthly tax-deductible donation.
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