Master Skills, Master Change: Unleash Your Volunteer Potential

News from the field

Stories and updates from our teams out & about. 

South East Queensland

Logan Eco Action Festival

On Sunday 2 June, Reef Check Australia attended the Logan Eco Action Festival. The festival was held at the Griffith University Meadowbrook campus, and is a celebration of our local environment, both terrestrial and marine, with stallholders from various groups sharing their top tips to live a more sustainable and eco-friendly life.

Our Reef Ambassadors chatted with visitors about the citizen science work that Reef Check Australia does, who were eager to learn more about the importance of our local reefs. Through conversations with community members (including a visit from Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis!), we hoped to inspire others to make sustainable choices for our oceans. Thank you to our volunteers Elena, Paul, and Adrienne, who attended the event.

Reef Check Australia acknowledges the Yuggera, Turrbal and Yugambeh people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which the festival was held and pays its respects to elders past and present.

Logan Eco Action Festival is a Logan City Council initiative.

Reef Check Australia activities within the Moreton Bay region are supported by the Port of Brisbane.

Mudjimba Island - Reef Health Survey

Written by Gabriella Scata; Reef Check Australia survey volunteer:

The Reef Check Australia team headed to Mudjimba Island on Sunday 9 June, a site that has been surveyed annually since 2007. The dark cliffs of the whale-shaped "Old Woman Island" stood out majestically over the calm turquoise waters on this beautiful warm winter day. These waters are home to a diverse reef, with a good balance between hard and soft corals. Various patches of leathery soft corals create a particularly stunning view, enriched by the occasional gorgonian and branching soft coral.

The conditions were perfect, with visibility around 10m and only a slight swell. This year, the team detected a slightly higher number of bleached corals, mostly hard corals. This was around 5-10% of the coral population surveyed up from 1% in 2023. The percentage of bleaching for each coral colony was around 60%, similar to last year.

This is not surprising given that the GBR has experienced its 5th mass bleaching event in only 8 years this summer. Fortunately, coral damage appeared limited, with only a few Drupella snails detected at each site and a small number of other impacts such as fishing lines and unknown scars. Turf, crustose, coralline and Halimeda algae dominated the scene along with a variety of corals.

A low number of target invertebrates and fish species was detected, in line with the previous year. These included a banded cleaner shrimp, a few cute baby bubble-tip anemones, some butterflyfish and snappers. However, this shallow reef boasts a high diversity of nudibranchs and sea stars and a few crinoids as well.  These include the eye-catching blue sea star (Linckia laevigata) and the black-spotted yellow nudibranch (Phyllidia ocellata).  The team was even lucky enough to encounter a small cuttlefish, a hawksbill turtle, a moray eel and a few crested morwongs. It was a pleasure to explore these reefs and their secret life.

A big thanks to the team of Blue Tortuga, who were amazing and offered us a relaxed and caring atmosphere.

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 is supported by the Sunshine Coast Councils Environment Levy Partnerships Grant.

Kings Beach - Reef Health Survey

Written by survey diver and trainer; Jodi Salmond.

Utilising our super keen and dedicated local surveyors, we quickly mobilized to check out our long term reef health monitoring site at Kings Beach boat ramp for our annual reef health monitoring. With the stellar support of our local surface watch we were ready to dive into the crisp winter water and explore what awaited us!

Despite the chilly water, the conditions were perfect with minimal waves, beautiful sunshine, and clear water. Kings Beach, a fringing reef located approximately 100m offshore, adjacent to a frequently used boat ramp near Caloundra's popular beachfront, was our destination. Our site sits at a depth of 3-4 meters, and was first added to our survey list in 2009 to better understand the reefs off the southern Sunshine Coast.

This site is known for being heavily impacted by floods. Over the last couple of years the changes in the Pumicestone Passage has affected the site, so we were interested to see what changes might have occurred in the past 12 months. Notably, Kings Beach has experienced significant flooding events in 2011 and 2022, which have affected the coral populations. However, this year, we observed a surprising shift: the seasonal macro algae Asparagopsis, which usually blankets the site, was not present at all. Instead, we found an abundance of crustose coralline algae, a reef-building type of algae, along with various other algal species.

During our survey, we spotted a couple of species of target fish and invertebrates, including collector urchins. Minimal amounts of rubbish were found, including a few pieces of fishing line and general debris. An interesting observation at this site is the high number of Drupella snails; a small, coral-eating snails. Although not all were found on corals or observed eating them, their consistent presence is noteworthy and may warrant further investigation.

Our team also documented nudibranchs, a variety of other fish, and even a few large birds, including at least one eagle, soaring overhead as we surfaced. This site is best visited from the boat ramp during optimal conditions, which we were fortunate to experience today. The most extensive coral cover lies just off the boat ramp itself, with plenty of healthy hard corals thriving in just two to three meters of water. We noted a significant number of encrusting corals, sponges, and sea stars along the length of the transect.

We also collected a series of photo transects to be uploaded into the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Reef Cloud program, which uses artificial intelligence to analyse images.

A special thanks to the team including our surface watch and our survey divers who made this survey possible.

Reef Check acknowledges 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 is supported by the Sunshine Coast Council’s Environmental Levy Partnerships Grant.

Reef Blitz - Wonder Reef on the Gold Coast 

Written by Team Leader and survey diver, Jodi Salmond

This June, we had the incredible opportunity to join a full crew of avid divers at Wonder Reef on the Gold Coast. Our mission was to explore and capture images of the thriving marine life on these fascinating structures.

The team was thrilled to witness the abundance of life in the top 18 metres of the reef. We encountered an absolutely massive grouper, possibly the biggest any of us had ever seen—it was nearly as big as the divers! We were also visited by a school of spotted eagle rays and surrounded by countless fish darting past us. The reef was teeming with octopuses, nudibranchs, sponges, and even some corals already growing on the structures.

Wonder Reef on the Gold Coast is the world’s first buoyant reef, situated 2.5 kilometres offshore from Main Beach. Comprising nine large sculptural structures, sitting at a depth of 30m at the bottom, it resembles a giant kelp forest and serves as both a stunning underwater art piece and a habitat for diverse marine life. Installed in 2021, the structures were designed by artist Daniel Templeman and constructed with Subcon Blue Solution, blending art, science, and engineering, making it a premier diving spot year-round​, enhancing tourism and promoting marine conservation.

It was fascinating to see the diverse marine life that has established itself there over time. The purpose of this trip was to capture as many photos as possible of the various animals, and benthic categories. This effort is part of this year's Reef Blitz for the area put together by Reef Check Australia.

Our primary goal was to conduct a bio-inventory of all nine structures in June as part of a winter Reef Blitz. We're particularly interested in comparing the marine life observed in winter with what we'll find in summer. This will help us understand any changes in diversity and abundance with the seasons in this region.

The team was super excited to get back and upload all their photos to the iNaturalist website, as teams of scientists behind the scenes helped identify what we found.

If you're interested in joining us for the next event, make sure to follow our facebook page. We'll be announcing the details of our next dive soon. Spaces are limited, so don't miss out!

Remember, you don't have to wait for an official Reef Check Australia trip to explore Wonder Reef. just contact one of the local dive operators.

Stay tuned for our summer survey! Big thanks to all the divers who participated in the event so far, and all those who continue to upload their photos. Thankyou also to Gold Coast Dive Adventures for getting us to the site and showing us around these magnificent structures.

Reef Check Acknowledge the people of the Yugambeh language region of the Gold 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.

Great Barrier Reef

Middle Reef - Townsville - Reef Health Survey

Middle Reef is a surprisingly pretty reef situated between Townsville and Magnetic Island. Due to the proximity of this site to the port, visibility can be limited and silt levels are typically medium to high. With the persistent strong winds we have been experiencing, this has delayed our survey at this site, but finally the weather smiled upon us and we headed out, excited to see how the reef is coping. Whilst the recorded amount of hard coral at Site 1 was down on our last survey (from 48% to 20% of the substrate), Site 2 was slightly higher (up from 48% to 52%). Rock (including rock covered with turf algae) made up the majority of the balance of the substrate.

Coral bleaching was detected on most transects at each site, with an average of 9% of an individual colony bleached but less than 1% of the population affected. Trash and other damage was minimal with a few anemones being the only target invertebrate observed.

This project is made possible through support from Townsville City Council through their Creek to Coral program, and the Integrated Coral Reef Citizen Science 2.0 Program funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. We would like to thank Dave from Affordable Charters for supplying the boat and tanks and getting us safely to our sites.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on where these activities take place, the Manbarra and Bwgcolman people of Palm Island, and the Wulgurukaba and Bindal People of the Townsville and Magnetic Island region. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and emerging and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in our community today.

Gordons Beach - Bowen – Landbased Clean Up 

A gorgeous winters Sunday saw our team of amazing Reef Check and community volunteers (from Bowen and Airlie Beach) undertake a beach clean up at Gordon’s Beach, just south of Bowen, QLD. This beach is opposite the Big Mango, a local tourist information centre, and great place for a mango ice cream or the infamous mango sorbet.

This beach has 4WD access to the waterfront with a track running along the beach just above the high tide line and is fringed by mangroves making it a popular fishing location.  The strand line contained large amounts of pumice but not as many small plastic fragments as we were expecting. Our team scoured the shoreline before heading into the mangroves where we retrieved discarded, decaying crab pots, fishing line, plastic bags, ropes, fragments of fabric and even a section of a large green wheelie bin. A long section of rubber was observed but had been in place so long that it was impossible to remove as it was woven amongst the roots of the mangrove trees. Several large tyres and some illegal dumping of items too large to remove was also observed up on the shoreline and this has been reported to the authorities. Overall, we removed 18kgs of debris which included 560 hard plastic fragments, 26 pieces of polystyrene, 41 pieces of soft plastic film remnants, 22 plastic food packaging items, 11 plastic drink bottles and 19 aluminium cans. 

A big thanks to the volunteers who gave up their Sunday afternoon to help out at this event. This clean up was conducted on the traditional lands of the Juru, Gia and Ngaro peoples. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and their Elders past, present and emerging.

This project is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government's Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Townsville EcoFiesta

The sun was shining and the crowds were out and about for the Eco Fiesta in Townsville. Held in the Anderson Gardens, this venue provided a wonderful backdrop for all the amazing information and market stalls which were part of this fiesta. The free native plants offered by several stalls were a big hit among the visitors, along with the face painting and an interesting story and display by Jo from Cape Creative based on the days theme of butterflies.

Our team were kept busy quizzing our young visitors on our interactive “beach clean up” box; asking them to guess how many pieces of plastic were in the jar; and identifying the marine critters on our “what am I” cards. We were also able to enlighten the adult people on who Reef Check Australia is and the important work that we do and how they can become involved or simply make a difference by making small changes in their daily lives.

It was great to observe people utilising the Townsville City Council Cup Library, where people could select a cup from the “bookcase” located near the coffee stall, use this instead of a single use coffee cup and then return it to the wash-station, where it was washed and reshelved for re-use. This is a great initiative and one we hope to observe at more events.

This project is made possible through support from Townsville City Council through their Creek to Coral program.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on where these activities take place, the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun, Bindal, Gugu Badhun and Nywaigi people. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and emerging and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in our community today.

Waite Bay - Beach Clean Up 

Waite Bay (or White Bay) is located on Haslewood Island, to the east of Whitsunday Island. An extensive fringing reef lies between Haslewood Island and Lupton Island, creating Waite Bay.  After postponing several times due to strong winds making it very uncomfortable to get to site our team finally made it in beautiful conditions. Our aim was to conduct a beach clean up at a small beach in Waite Bay as part of Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s ReefClean project.

Due to the fringing reef within the bay, our team disembarked the boat in Windy Bay (on the western side of Haslewood Island) to walk over the hill to the beach. As soon as we reached shore (on the leeward side of the island), we encountered debris which was not a good sign. Upon approach to the target beach the team was halted by the sight of copious amounts of plastic debris on the beach. We all took a deep breath and commenced the huge task of collecting as much debris as possible in the time we had on the island.

Our team were filling empty oil bottles, milk bottles, 5 gallon drums, buckets (all of which were found on the beach) with small pieces of hard plastic, trying to consolidate the haul to fit into the bags we had. We certainly made a visible difference to the beach, hauling out 39 kilograms of mostly hard plastic debris which included 1083 plastic bottle tops, 16 toothbrushes, 6 razors and more than 6000 pieces of hard plastic remnants. Much of the debris was weathered and included some items that were clearly distinguishable as foreign items.

Thanks to John at Whitsunday Paradise Explorer for flexibility in getting us to site. These surveys were conducted on the traditional lands and sea country of the Ngaro People of the Whitsundays. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and their Elders past, present and emerging.

This project is supported by Tangaroa Blue through ReefClean; a project funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust.  ReefClean is a project to remove and reduce marine debris impacting the Great Barrier Reef.

Books and podcasts

Have you read or listened to something lately that you would like to share? Let us know and we can feature it here

Current Coral Affairs

Check out some of the latest news and research about our ocean

Shrinking Grey Whales!

A study has revealed that Grey Whales are shrinking and this could impact their future health.

Read now in: Dive Magazine

'Cocaine Sharks' in Brazil

Illegal drug production is thought to be responsible for harmful substances in Brazilian waters.

Read now in: National Geographic

Get with the Program

Here's what we've got coming up in the next few weeks, keep checking the website for more updates.