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!

Check out some of our media stories from 2017!   Citizen Scientists Nurture the Moreton Bay Hopespot (Aug 2017) Great Barrier Reef: How you can help stop a great catastophe (April 2017) Beneath the Surface Our Redlands Magazine (Autumn 2017) Check out Moreton Bay's coral reefs (February 2017) ABC Story: Moreton Bay coral discovery mapped out (January 2017)

  Our Ningaloo Project Officer volunteer, Gemma Francis, had the chance to present a poster on the evolution of the regional program at the Australian Coral Reef Society conference held in Exmouth in May 2018.  The poster gave a recap of our work in the region since 2013 and outlined proposed next steps. After 2 years of working with the amazing team at Cape Conservation Group, we have collectively decided that to provide sufficient support for volunteers and partners, a part-time paid coordinator role is critical to support a sustainable reef citizen science monitoring and outreach program for the Ningaloo Coast. At this stage we have currently submitted two grants and hoping to ready to share new plans later this year! The conference presented the perfect chance to connect and discuss plans with the local Exmouth and broader marine science community. Gemma said "It was an incredible event to attend and represent Reef Check. It was inspiring to be part of this scientific community and and great to see ongoing support for this growing project." The conference explored the effects of climate change, in particularly rising sea temperatures, and the monitoring, management strategies for existing coral ecosystems around Australia, with a focus on the Ningaloo region. 

We teamed up with Tangaroa Blue Foundation and Reef Ecologic to host a series of cleanups on five beaches on Magnetic Island. Together, we cleaned Nelly, Rocky, Geoffrey, Alma & Horseshoe Bays.  More than 50 community members joined in to sort and report on clean up data and made environmental pledges to reduce waste. Was great to see peoples enthusiasm and dedication to reduce plastic pollution on Magnetic island beaches and care for the amazing natural environment! Special thanks to representatives of Fantasea Cruising Magnetic, Pleasure Divers Magnetic Island, Aquascene Charters & Reef HQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium for getting involved too! This event was supported with funding from NQ Dry Tropics through the Australian Government National Landcare Programme

The results from the 2017 Great Sandy Survey Report are in!  The Great Sandy Marine Park hosts unique subtropical coral communities. In Queensland, inshore fringing reefs off the mainland coast is relatively unique. In June 2017, teams checked up on 5 long-term monitoring sites established in 2012 (Barolin Rocks, Burkitt’s Reef, Big Woody Island, ESA Park, Gatakers Reef West) and added an additional site at Round Island.  As per previous surveys, both monitoring sites in the Woongarra Coast region were dominated by soft coral, where as Hervey Bay sites had higher levels of hard coral. Coral bleaching was reported across all sites (average 18%) of the population.  https://youtu.be/ZWh6bPw75Xs

Kids in Action This May the Sunshine Coast Reef Check Australia team joined hundreds of Sunshine Coast school student, teachers and several local community groups as a part of the Kids in Action even.  The program brings schools together to explore local environmental issues and encourages kids to GET INVOLVED in citizen science in a hands on, in the field way!  Over 100 students joined the Reef Check Australia team to learn more about their local reef environments, and the simple ways that they can help from home. 

  Congratulations to our new Brisbane Reef Check Surveyors! In challenging conditions over on Stradbroke Island, the team demonstrated their reef knowledge and survey skills over back-to-back practical dive sessions. Thanks to Ken from Point Lookout Scuba for looking after the team. Thanks also to Port of Brisbane for supporting this volunteer training course!   Our new surveyors are now eager to get out in the field and put their new skills into practice throughout the survey season!