Reef Check Australia has been monitoring inshore fringing reef sites in Moreton Bay / Quandamooka since 2009. We've recently added new monitoring sites for the fringing reefs at Green, St Helena and Mud Island thanks to funding from Port of Brisbane. These sites, so close to the city of Brisbane and the surrounding catchment area, are exposed to water quality issues from sediment and runoff, and high-levels of recreational access. Subtropical marine habitats can also be affected by climate change, with resident species responding to changes in water temperature. Conditions in Moreton Bay can be challenging for diving, but luckily our team had glorious winter weather. The water was beautiful and clear, with barely a puff of wind all weekend. It was an inspiring reminder of the sometimes-forgotten beauty and health of the underwater environment right on Brisbane's doorstep. Seeing notable coral communities just minutes from a bustling metropolitan city is incredibly uplifting and highlights the resilience of these amazing organisms. The range of pressures they face make it all the more important to continue to survey and monitor the health of these sites.  Congratulations to our survey team for collecting the data, and thanks to Port of Brisbane and the Moreton Bay Research Station for making this trip possible. Happy to announce that we'll be conducting bi-annual surveys at these sites again this season, so stay tuned for more updates!      

We have a winner! The surfboard raffle was drawn on 2 July and we're thrilled to say a big congratulations to Chris Doropoulos! Check out the handover video!  Huge thank you to Reef Ambassador Tania Kenyon. Tania coordinated this campaign to raise funds to support our work and give back to future Layne Beachley Foundation Aim for the Stars leadership program scholarship winners. As part of her Layne Beachley Aim for the Stars Foundation leadership scholarship and as one of our power house outreach volunteers, she put a tremendous effort into coordinating a raffle of a completely one-of-a-kind and rather epic Tree to Sea Australia timber surf board signed by surf legend herself, Layne Beachley. It is a time when we truly need more people empowered to look after our reefs and oceans and Tania's awesome fundraising efforts will help inspire more reef champions. Since April, our dedicated volunteers have been promoting the raffle and selling tickets at various events and festivals around Brisbane, raising $4,733 for Reef Check Australia and the Layne Beachley Foundation.  Reef Check Australia will receive 70% of the proceeds, and will put the funds toward citizen science and Reef Ambassador outreach activities. The Layne Beachley Foundation will dedicate the funds to recipients of ‘Aim for the Stars’ scholarships, for women striving towards their dreams in a variety of fields. Tania Kenyon, raffle organizer and Reef Check Australia Ambassador, who has been volunteering for Reef Check Australia since 2015, was extremely happy at the outcome. “I feel so good that I was able to give to a group like Reef Check Australia, that is dear to my heart and who’s work is so in line with my passions and ambitions. And that I could give back to the Layne Beachley Foundation, to support more aspiring young women. I’m also humbled at how much the community and my networks got behind what I was doing and showed so much positivity around the raffle – thank you!” We are very grateful to ‘Tree to Sea Australia’ for donating the beautiful surfboard, and of course to everyone that bought a ticket in the raffle. You are true ocean heroes!

The Great Barrier reef survey teams have been busy this month completing Magnetic Island surveys and adding more sites to the Magnetic Island snorkel trails.   Meanwhile, working together with Reef Ecologic, Reef Checkers celebrated World Ocean Day on Magnetic Island by assisting with a beach clean-up, taking conservation pledges and taking part in island outreach to support the awesome plastic-free initiative The Last Straw on the Great Barrier Reef!  Reef Check Ambassadors are undertaking this work in conjunction with the Last Straw on the GBR to help local cafe's and bars reduce their plastic straw usage in Townsville and on Magnetic Island. We’ll keep you updated on this important project     Reef Checkers were also present at Ecofiesta in Queens Garden, Townsville to help encourage sustainable behaviours and teach people how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Lots of visitors on the day made pledges to reduce their impact, such as reducing single-use plastics. Our volunteers are doing some incredible work in this region and we can’t wait to share more updates with you!

It's been few weeks of events for our Ambassadors, who have been representing Reef Check at the Logan Eco Action Festival (LEAF), the Green Heart Fair, and the Quandamooka Festival.   A team of volunteers ran a stall at LEAF to help raise awareness about local environmental issues, and educate the community on the importance of citizen science. They even got to meet Costa Georgiadis from ABC’s Gardening Australia!  And the Green Heart Fair, Chermside, they ran a community stall helping promote the message of sustainable living, and sharing some tips on how to reduce your plastic use to combat plastic pollution and marine debris.   Meanwhile, some of the team headed over to North Stradbroke Island to help kick off the Quandamooka Festival, sharing information about some of our local survey sites off the island, and promoting local conservation issues.  Reef Check are proud to have been involved in celebrating the people, culture, and beautiful environment of the Quandamooka area.   Two of our lucky Ambassadors were also able to head out on the Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre's vessel, the MV Inspiration, for a 'beat plastic pollution' session. Robin and Jennah, along with a host of local school teachers, participated in a plankton tow around Moreton Bay, and studied the samples on board for evidence of microplastics. Watch this space for a video about their day of adventures soon! Our Reef Ambassadors program in Brisbane is supported by Queensland Government's Community Sustainability Action Grant Program, Port of Brisbane and Advance Queensland. 

Following some pretty intensive training as part of our first Sunshine Coast based Reef Ambassador course, in May we welcomed 17 new Reef Ambassadors/Ocean Action Agents to our team thanks to a grant from June Canavan Foundation.    It's wonderful to see so many super awesome, inspiring people ready to get active in their community!  We would like to thank each and every one of them for their enthusiasm and ideas and for wanting to help protect our reefs and oceans in any way they can.  We are very excited to see their projects come to fruition!    

Reef Check Australia were excited to introduce 13 new Ocean Youth Action students to the REEFSearch citizen science program in the last month, thanks to SEALIFE Mooloolaba.    Students used their new REEFSearch skills to locate a variety of invertebrates, impacts and substrates found along the Mooloolaba rockpools to test out their new kits in preparation for visiting some local reefs later in the year.      Why not check out the REEFSearch Program and see how YOU can get involved! 

Since 2011, RCA has been monitoring multiple sites on Heron Island as part of a larger collaborative reef research and mapping initiative led by The University of Queensland’s Remote Sensing Research Centre. Heron Island falls within the Fitzroy Marine Zone. The Fitzroy Partnership is a collective of government, agriculture, resources, industry, research and community interests that partner to deliver annual reports on water quality and ecosystem health in the region. Live coral cover is one of five coral indicators utilised to report on marine condition for the Reef Plan Marine Monitoring Program. We work with the Fitzroy Partnership to produce an additional summary report on average percent cover of hard and soft coral for motioning sites on Heron Island scored using Reef Plan Reporting scales for nearshore reefs.  2017 results have just been released as additional information with the annual report card. If you want to see some more info on this site, you can check out the Reef Check summary report. 

Enter to win a unique, handcrafted, wooden ‘Tree to Sea' surfboard, signed by 7-time surfing world champion, Layne Beachley! Tania Kenyon, a Reef Ambassador volunteer and PhD candidate researching coral reefs at UQ, was awarded a Layne Beachley Foundation 'Aim for the Stars' scholarship in 2017 to support her work. She is now raffling this beautiful surfboard to ‘pay it forward'. Funds will go to Reef Check Australia's citizen science and education programs, and to The Layne Beachley Foundation, to support future scholarship winners. Grab your raffle ticket today!