Friends and Colleagues,   Reef Check Australia is non-partisan, rightly and proudly so.  Our volunteers, staff and board members come from all walks of life and political persuasions.  What binds us together is our fascination and deep love for the environment, coupled with respect for the scientific method as a pathway to greater knowledge and rational action.   Many of us are feeling a sense of loss and grief as we see our political leaders and the wider polity step away from decisive action to manage the single largest threat to reef ecosystems – climate change.  We face choices, as individuals and as an organisation. One choice is to retreat.  The safety of the lounge chair, Netflix and a very large drink is attractive.  We can hide.  We can take a moment and recharge. One choice is to step hard into a fight. We can march, rally and shout.  We can disobey, disrupt and deny those who continue to systematically destroy this planet. One choice is to stay the course.  We can, despite the confusion in our heads, the sickness in our guts and the sadness in our hearts, breathe deeply and reflect on our place and our role.  We can just keep going. These choices are not fixed forever.  If you’re feeling beaten down, it’s OK. A choice to withdraw today doesn’t preclude a fight tomorrow.  To choose to fight can manifest in different ways.  Each of us can make our own choice.  I’m not sure whether it is accurate or not that Buckminster Fuller, the legendary architect, was once depressed and suicidal, but the story goes that one of the things that helped lift him out of his depression was a question he asked himself. That question was ‘What work is it that wouldn’t get done if I wasn’t around to do it?’ This is a powerful question that asks us to consider our purpose.  It’s from our purpose that our actions flow.  It’s from our purpose that I can say what choice we’re going to make as an organisation.  Reef Check Australia is not going to retreat and we aren’t going to rest.  Reef Check Australia exists so that we can feel hope and feel connected and be active.  We exist so that our community can be active and contribute positively to the knowledge about reefs.  This purpose has not changed.  The rationality of science, data and action is still real.  There is a need for us, our community, our expeditions, our outreach and our data.  That need hasn’t diminished, it has amplified – become more urgent.  In my mind we stay the course but fight even harder to do so.  We don’t change our purpose or our tactics, but we work harder and do more.  There is only one way for us to do that.  We need you to volunteer, to dive, to support outreach and to help us raise funds.  We exist as a community because we care and because we have hope. And we need you with us.  We need to be stronger.  Our strength comes from you.   Richard

  Reef Check Australia (RCA) is looking for new active board members to provide guidance and leadership to the organisation. This is a voluntary position, with vacancies available for a 3-year renewable term. We currently have several vacancies for volunteer Board members and would particularly like to hear from people with the following skills, abilities or experience: Financial management Marine science and monitoring Dive industry and tourism experience Indigenous engagement   Board members are required to attend an induction, receive on the job training and mentoring and attend monthly board meetings (either in person or via conference call) Previous Board experience would be preferred, but is not essential. If you think you fit the bill for any of these positions, please apply now!    

  On the 27th and 28th of April Reef Check Australia volunteers, led by our new GBR Project Coordinator Nathan Cook, completed two underwater and two beach clean-ups at Fitzroy Island in the Cairns region as part of the ReefClean project that is funded through the  Australian Government’s Reef Trust which is rolling out across the Great Barrier Reef. The ReefClean project is being delivered by Tangaroa Blue Foundation and a number of partner organisations, including Reef Check Australia.   They completed a beach clean up at Welcome Bay and Nudey Beach and underwater clean ups offshore Welcome Bay, predominantly underneath the boat moorings East of the arrival pier and underneath the boat moorings West of the arrival pier. They found that most of the trash collected on land was predominantly litter from visitors to the island disposing of their rubbish carelessly.   In their data report, which is submitted into the Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database, the team noted that among the most common items found were discarded bottles, fishing gear, clothes and clothes pegs and many hair ties found in the water close to shore.    The team also took the opportunity to undertake surveys on the sites visited. Thanks as ever to our awesome volunteer surveyors for their efforts!

  Over the (slightly damp) Easter Long Weekend, 2 of our amazing ambassadors put on their raincoats and joined the Gold Coast Seagrass team to conduct the last of the surveys for the current season at Wave Break Island. This all sand, man-made island was constructed as part of the Gold Coast Seaway in 1985. Seagrass has become a vital inclusion to the waterways providing food to the local turtles, sea wrass and even dugongs.         Check out the run down below from Tamara: "We learnt a lot about the importance of seagrass and its role and how fragile it can be. Even kite surfing can be a threat. Despite the rain, we all had a lot of fun with seagrass, transect lines, Easter eggs and even a rainbow thrown in!"     Thanks to the City of Gold Coast Council for supporting Reef Check Ambassadors and events and of course to our awesome ambassadors for getting involved!

Congratulations Surveyors! Our Brisbane and Gold Coast based surveyor trainees completed their intense Reef Health Surveyor courses over on beautiful North Stradbroke Island earlier this month, after weeks of theory training.   We lucked out with some beautiful conditions out at Shag Rock, and our group of trainees demonstrated some excellent ID skills in the field. Looking forward to you all joining us on surveys soon!   Thanks to all the trainers for all their hard work and knowledge, and thanks as always to Ken from Point Lookout SCUBA for looking after us!       This training would not have been possible without the help and support from the Queensland Government Community Sustainability Action Grant, the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd, and the The Gold Coast City Council.

Reef Check Australia has a current vacancy for a SEQ Project Coordinator. The successful applicant for this position will be based in Brisbane and will have a unique blend of science, field experience and community engagement skills to plan, coordinate and lead our Brisbane and Gold Coast projects.     This is a casual position, 2/3 days a week and reports to the Reef Check Australia SEQ Programs and Community Engagament Manager If you think you might fit the bill - check out the job description and apply now!  

  We're proud to share the monitoring results from our 2018 Heron Island surveys in the newly released Reef Check Australia summary report.  Reef Check Australia has been monitoring sites on Heron Island since 2011 and we continue to work with The University of Queensland’s Remote Sensing Research Centre on this project.     Here's a few titbits from the report to whet your coral appetite! -  The total average hard coral cover recorder across all sites was 42% Eight out of 15 sites had coral cover greater than 50% Most sites had low levels of soft coral (eight out of 15 sites) Coral bleaching was recorded on all sites, but in relatively low levels.   Thanks to The University of Queensland’s Remote Sensing Research Centre, Heron Island Research Station and Heron Island Resort for their in-kind support and advice. And of course a massive thanks to the 2018 Heron Reef Research Team superstars - Chris Roelfsema, Douglas Stetner, Mitch Lyons, Emma Kennedy, Daniel Harris, Kat Markey, Josh Passenger, Eva Kovacs, Rodney Borrego, Jodi Salmond (who also supplied these awesome images) and Stuart Phinn.      

Every year hundreds of millions of people around the world in more than 7,000 cities in over 180 countries take part in Earth Hour. This year, the team at Reef Check Australia decided to show our support for Earth hour by inviting our supporters to switch off their minds as well, for a Yoga by candlelight event.     The beautiful space for our Brisbane event was generously donated by The Academy of Grounding and our wonderful Yogi Grace donated her time taking everyone through a relaxing Yin practice.  Just the thing to truly switch off!       We'd also like to give massive thanks to our Sunshine Coast yoga instructor, Breeana, and also the Perigian Beach Community Centre for generously donating their time, space and energy to this wonderful and relaxing event!     Here's the lowdown from one of our Sunshine Coast attendees, Alexandra Arri:   "Switch off to switch off was such a great way to show solidarity in highlighting the importance of Earth Hour. Breeanas kind and humble nature only added to the calmness of the flickering candle lights as she lead us through an hour of gentle yoga poses. I would definitely recommend future events organised by Reef Check Australia."    Big thanks to our amazing Ambassadors who helped to organise these events.Also, thanks to the June Canavan Grant for supporting the Sunshine Coast event and to the Queensland Government Community Sustainability Action Grant for supporting the Brisbane event!