Take Action for the Planet

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

Allie Cove Noosa, Beach clean-up

The summer heat is in full swing, with tourism blossoming across the Sunshine Coast region, especially in Noosa. One of the main attractions found in the area is the iconic Noosa National Park, a large headland littered with embayment’s, rocky shorelines, and beautiful beaches. One of these hidden bays, Allie Cove, is found hidden in between the Sunshine Beach entrance into the national park and Alexandria Bay. It is a 30-40 minute hike from Sunshine Beach, up a small mountain and down an enchanting, steep rocky trail into a small rocky beach. One of the reasons this small beach is so beautiful is one of the reasons it needed a clean, although its 40 minutes from suburbia its isolated and rugged terrain can create perfect conditions for trapping marine debris.

A total of 2.563kg over 130 items of marine debris was remove from the Rocky shoreline. The majority of items were found along the highest strandline, buried by rocky rubble and pandanus leaves over time which suggests heavy storms pushed items towards the back end of the enclosed cove, somewhere most visitors don’t think to clean. We hit sampled the beach a few hours after high tide, and there was still plenty of items littered within the intertidal zone, hidden in between small boulders and rocks making the clean a game of hide and seek attempting to find as much as possible while we were there.

Rocky shores can act as a marine debris trap, allowing large waves to transport marine debris onto the beach, only to settle within a small crack in between rocks and become stuck there. A normal sandy beach would allow another large wave to pick the item up and possibly continue transporting it to a different location, but rocks are a natural sieve for our anthropogenic rubbish which makes these beaches an unfortunate victim for larger amounts of rubbish settling on them.

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 Noosa and Sunshine Coast region, 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.

Clean Up for Hatchlings - Snorkel Clean up

The sun was up and so was our dedicated team of volunteer snorkellers ready and rearing for a clean up snorkel as a part of the Clean Up for the Hatchlings event early February.

With the water at La Balsa being the clearest it has been in a long time, and a warm 28 degrees, 14 snorkellers watched over by our dedicated Surface Watchers cleaned up approximately 700m of rocky coastline. This area also forms one of Reef Check Australia’s long term reef health monitoring sites and is interesting due to the constant changes in the river. Despite this, it is often teeming with marine life, including juvenile turtles, making it an important area to clean up regularly.

This year, the snorkel clean up team collected just over 10kg of debris; made up almost exclusively of fishing line, fishing nets, lures, sinkers, plastic bags and plastic bottles.

This attributed to a total of 280kg of rubbish picked up from across 18 sites, with over 560 children joining in for the event.  Its always great to see so many come out to support these events, and to showcase how amazing our local areas are!

Remember- every bit counts, so if you see it, pick it up; regardless of the day!

Big shoutout to each and every person who joined in the days activities. And to our surface watches Iain and Christa Salmond; just as important!  And to Jojo Schultz for the epic photos.  Thankyou!

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 future.

This project is supported by the Sunshine Coast Council’s Environmental Levy Partnerships Grant.

Clean Up for the Hatchlings - Land Based clean up

Clean up for the hatchlings (CU4TH) is the largest marine debris clean-up event the Sunshine Coast region currently has, which saw over 235kg of rubbish cleaned from Sunshine Beach to Caloundra in ONE morning, with over 500 volunteers participating!

The event was created just like all other great ideas; with friends chatting over coffee. They wanted to merge conservation efforts that hundreds of volunteers do along the coastline every day, and so they decided on an event that brought together several non-profit organisations, local governments, and local communities.

The purpose of the annual clean-up is to ensure that the endangered Loggerhead turtles that have nested on our beaches for their whole lives can continue to do so without too much influence from marine debris on our shared sandy shores. It also raises awareness surrounding the anthropogenic impact’s we are causing towards our native endangered animals, while providing an opportunity for anyone and everyone to participate in conservation efforts to mitigating these problems.

We engaged hundreds of inquisitive locals at our Reef Check Australia stall, talking to them about the wonderful animals that live below the surface right off our coastline, as well as what they can do in their everyday lives to reduce their impact on our planet. We had a large amount of interest towards new Reef Ambassadors as well as survey divers, demonstrating events like this possess the ability towards educating communities about conservation in a fun and innovative way!

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 is supported by the Sunshine Coast Councils Environment Levy Partnership grant.

Bulcock Beach Reef Health Survey

The sun is out and with conditions looking good, the Reef Check Australia teams are out in full force. A small dedicated team headed out to Bulcock beach boardwalk to complete an annual reef health monitoring survey.

The Boardwalk at Bulcock Beach was surveyed for the first time in 2018 after an underwater clean up at the location recorded a variety of fish species, invertebrate species and benthic diversity; showcasing the site as a nursery for many species. Bulcock Beach is a popular coastal recreation area located to the south of Caloundra, and a popular recreational fishing site. The Reef Check Australia reef health monitoring site sits along a rock wall slope in approximately 4-5m depth. It is usually characterised by rock, razer clams, ascidians and sand. The site is also a nursery for a variety of fish species in the area.

However this location sits inside the Caloundra bar, initially the only northern opening from Pumicestone passage to the open ocean at the top end of Bribie. A few months ago a breakthrough occurred on Bribie island, creating a new opening, and changing the areas environment; water movement, access and general characteristics of the area, clearly seen in images supplied by Blueys Photography as attached. We knew it would be an interesting spot to go back to visit after all these changes, so the team was excited to go and check it out.

The site has changed substantially, with everything being covered in a thick layer of silt. A few ascidians can be found scattered amongst bivalve covered rock, and plenty of fish species were located including butterflyfish, bream, several stonefish, a lionfish and a tiny scorpionfish. Several collector urchins and a single Drupella snail was recorded amongst the heavy silt, and debris including leaves, plastic and fishing line. This area is an important nursery group for many species, and it was sad to see the area covered in such heavy siltation(over an inch deep in most areas); enough to cloud vision with even small movements. It is an interesting area, and we will continue to keep an eye on it through regular clean-ups before attempting to revisit the site for more monitoring.

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 Sunshine Coast Council’s environment Levy Partnership Grant.

Thankyou to SCUBAworld for the tanks. 

Drone photos showcasing the changes in the area by Blueys Photography.

Great Barrier Reef

Brain Food

Reviews and details on books, documentaries, and podcasts that we have come across, & wanted to share.

Current Coral Affairs

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

How a spiky menace is hitching a ride on the ocean current surfed by Nemo's dad

Every year an ocean current supercharged by climate change brings a destructive, spiky species south from New South Wales to the rocky reefs of eastern Tasmania. The long-spined sea urchin is bad news for Tasmanian sea life as the species can quickly nibble swaying kelp forests to bald rocks, forming underwater moonscapes known as urchin barrens. Seaweed is important food and habitat for the animals of a rocky reef, so when urchins create a barren it's akin to clear-felling a vibrant rainforest.

Read in ABC News:

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