Townsville

As North Queensland's largest regional city, Townsville has a unique connection with the reef.  The city hosts the Australian Institute of Marine Science as well as the headquarters for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Although reef tourists aren't has numerous as the Cairns and Whitsunday regions, visitors are drawn to the accessible fringing reefs of Magnetic Island and spectacular outer reefs. 

Program History & Achievements

Townsville is the central hub for our GBR Reef Check Australia team. Its also where we got our start, as a Masters project to bring the global Reef Check program to Australia by Jos Hill, a former James Cook University student.

We've been monitoring and reporting on fringing reefs around Magnetic Island for more than a decade. 

Aside from continuing our long term reef health monitoring, we are seeking ways to put data to use. We’re a Community Member group for the new developing Dry Tropics Partnership for Healthy Waters Report Card, launching in 2018.

 

 

 

 

Reef Monitoring

The close proximity of Magnetic Island reefs means they have been a main focus for local teams ever since we got our start. 

In 2017, working together with our industry partners, RCA was able to re-establish some historic sites and create some new sites at Townsville's offshore reefs including Lodestone, Wheeler, Keeper and John Brewer.

We are also striving to connect citizen science with practical local action and launched the ground-breaking Reef Ambassador program in Townsville in 2017. The program helps passionate individuals showcase reef related activities and projects to engage the wider community in protecting the Reef.

Read more in our regional reports. 

Reef Ambassadors

We launched the Townsville Reef Ambassador program in March 2017, with a whirlwind course talking science, communications and how we can boost our collective positive impact for the reef. 

Since then, our Ambassadors have helped to run the first ever Seaside Scavenge events for North Queensland, joined the plastic straw-free movement with the inspiring crew at The Last Straw on the Great Barrier Reef, reached out through heaps of community events and started plotting about how they want to see the program develop for greater impact factor.

This exciting new program continues to evolve--stay tuned for updates and get involved!

 

Supporters

Regional Program Funders 

Townsville City Council | NQ Dry Tropics | Clarkes One for Tomorrow Program via Pacific Biologics

 

Regional Program supporters & partners

Adrenalin Dive | Affordable Charters | Conservation Volunteers Australia | CoralWatch | Fantasea Cruising Magnetic | Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority | Pleasure Divers Magnetic Island | Reef Ecologic | Reef HQ | Tangaroa Blue Foundation | Townsville Local Marine Advisory Commitee

Image Gallery

Regional Updates

Cleaning Up Magnetic Island!

December 06, 2019
  On the weekend of 23 & 24th November the crew from Reef Check Australia headed to Magnetic Island for multiple beach and underwater clean ups in partnership with Tangaroa Blue as part of their ReefClean project. Calm conditions greeted the underwater team as seven divers and three snorkellers took to the water to see what marine debris they could find.     The team targeted two locations, Alma Bay and Nelly Bay. They collected 13.5kgs of marine debris, much of it being small plastic pieces, clear plastic film, plastic and glass bottles and cigarette butts. Underwater, thankfully, the team did not collect much at either location. At Nelly Bay the only debris found was discarded and abandoned fishing line that the team cut off the reef.     The ReefClean project is funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and delivered by Tangaroa Blue Foundation and a number of partner organisations including Reef Check Australia.  
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Congratulations To Our New Townsville Ambassadors!

September 24, 2019
  The Great Barrier Reef team was happy to welcome some new members to the team last month after a big weekend of Ambassador Training! The training focused on community engagement, sharing reef education and awareness through a variety of methods, planning events and creating projects. Stay tuned for updates from the new reef  ambassadors! Thanks to Conservation Volunteers for hosting us so we could run the workshop,  for a guest lecture from Craig Turner about  Tangaroa Blue and support from Townsville City Council. Credit to Gemma Molinaro for the awesome images! This training is part of Reef Ecologic’s Integrated Coral Reef Citizen Science Program, which is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.  
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Seaside Scavenge Success!

October 31, 2018
October 21st saw Reef Check Australia host the second successful Magnetic Island seaside scavenge and clean up event, with a fantastic and productive day had by all.       This innovative event allows volunteers to collect and sort marine debris in exchange for tokens to purchase items from the pop-up pre-loved market on the day. The 2018 scavenge saw 20kg of trash picked up around the island including over 1000 cigarette butts! It's so important for those who do smoke to remember to be careful where they dispose of their cigarette butts. Despite the recent Queensland ban on single use plastic bags, many  bags were also among the items collected this year. Australians burn through billions of light weight plastic bags a year almost none of which are being recycled... inevitably there is a lot that slips through the cracks or, in this case, catches the currents out to sea.  Scavenge volunteers were also treated to some awesome music from local musicians including Lauren Gregory, Andy Lewis, Sylvie Dewitte, fREEK and Ben & Cara as well as the opportunity to learn how to make t-shirt bags with our Reef Check Ambassadors.     Of course, you don't have to join a seaside scavenge to help rid our oceans of marine debris! Take action today to find out more ways to reduce your waste and environmental impact.
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Magnetic Island Activities!

June 22, 2018
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!
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