Our Coast to Coral Community Lecture series is back for 2019! Join Reef Check Australia and friends at The Bearded Lady for an evening of discovery, inspiration and appreciation of our local marine, coastal and catchment environments. Each month we have a new, interesting and engaging speaker.

This month our speaker is Rob Morris from the Southern Ocean Seabird Study Association (SOSSA). Rob is an ecologist with nearly 30 years experience working in the environmental consultancy sector. Rob holds an honours degree in Ecology and a Masters in Environmental Assessment and specialises in determining the impacts of major developments on ecological resources and working to minimise those impacts through design changes and offsets.

Rob has had a passion for wildlife and in particular birds since he was a kid. He started birdwatching with his father at the age of 5, was trained as a bird bander in his teens, and undertook research at Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research unit (WildCRU) on an endangered species of bird in Arabia.

Since moving to Australia in 2007, he started going to sea from the Gold Coast to study seabirds with the a Southern Ocean Seabird Study Association (SOSSA). During this time Rob has developed an intimate knowledge of the seabirds that inhabit SEQs pelagic environment. In 2011 Rob was the first to find a new species of Storm-Petrel 30 miles off the Gold Coast which is yet to be defined. Rob will speak about the seabirds of SEQ, the seasonal changes in diversity, the undescribed storm-petrel and the changes and threats he sees that they face.

6pm: Bar opens
6:30: Grab a seat (they go fast!)
6:45: Talk kicks-off
7:30: Pizza & good sea-minded conversation!

Entry is $3 (which gets you pizza at the end).

As the venue is a bar, Under 18's are most welcome but must be accompanied by an adult. And a 5 year gap is necessary, ie. 17-yr-old can not be accompanied by a 18-yr-old.

This initiative is hosted by Reef Check Australia, and proudly supported by Queensland Government Community Sustainability Action Grants, with amazing in-kind support from The Bearded Lady.