The Whitsunday Islands

Dubbed the ‘heart of the Great Barrier Reef’ The Whitsunday region is iconic for its continental islands with fringing reefs and stunning offshore reefs. The community of Airlie Beach hosts a large tourism industry, which relies heavily on local reefs. Tourism in the Whitsundays is critically important, with more than 40% of visitors to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park visiting the region.

One of our very first surveys launched in the Whitsundays, at Blue Pearl Bay around Hayman Island. Today, we continue to monitor a number of long-term sites.

 

Project History and Achievements

A Whitsundays site, Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island, was one of the first sites visited by Reef Check in Australia in 2001.

Some of our monitoring sites were impacted by Cyclone Debbie in March 2017. Cyclone Debbie, which crossed the coast at Airlie Beach as a category 4 storm. Debbie caused severe damage to many shallow reef systems in the Whitsundays. Tourism infrastructure was effected, with damage to resorts, vessels, and boat ramps. Severe flooding for the Burdekin and Fitzroy Rivers from storm system resulted in flood plumes that reached nearshore reef areas. A number of offshore sites had lesser impacts and many tourism operators are now open. 

Our amazing industry partners help the survey teams reach existing sites for ongoing reef monitoring, and as such we haven't had the opportunity to return to a few key areas since 2016. We are looking to reach more remote sites in this region. If you would like be involve with this project, please see our Partnership Opportunities.

 

Reef Monitoring

Since our start in 2001, we have expanded our monitoring area to include additional sites on Hayman, Hook and Daydream Islands.

On the offshore reefs, we have sites on Hardy, Bait and Knuckle reef. We also established new sites in the Mackay region in 2016 with support from Reef Catchments to help gather data for the south Cumberland Islands. We're hoping to continue building on monitoring in this region. 

 

Questing for details?

Read more in our regional reports. 

 

Supporters

Project supporters

Our current activities in the Whitsundays are supported through a donation from the Clarke's One for Tomorrow program and by donations from people like YOU.

 

Dive Industry Supporters

Cruise Whitsundays | Daydream Island Resort | Explore Whitsundays | ZigZag Charters 

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Regional Updates

Whitsundays Winter Surveys!

August 08, 2019
  Over the weekend of 20 July Reef Check Australia ventured into the waters of the Whitsundays to complete surveys across the region. GBR Coordinator Nathan Cook was accompanied  by Reef Check divers Richard Knight and newly certified RCA diver Ben Corbishley to undertake 5 surveys at offshore Hardy Reef, and nearshore reefs at Luncheon and Butterfly Bay, Hook Island and Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island.     The offshore reefs were looking ok with signs of good recovery from the devastating effects of Cyclone Debbie. Inshore, the story was quite different with low coral cover recorded at Luncheon and Blue Pearl Bay. Despite this, we did notice some signs of recovery with new coral recruits evident across all sites.     This project is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. We are also thankful to Cruise Whitsundays and Ocean Rafting for their invaluable logistical support to access the sites. 
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New monitoring sites for Mackay

April 16, 2016
In 2016, the Reef Check Team established four new survey sites in the Mackay region. With help from the Mackay Dive Club and Megaforce Charters new sites were created on Keswick and Wigdon Islands. These reefs are located in the South Cumberland islands. While perhaps not as well-known as neighbouring reefs to the north in the Whitsundays, surveyors were thrilled to visit these new fringing reef locations. Good to only see relatively low levels of bleaching (6-12%), given some more startling bleaching reports from other areas further north. Will be keeping in contact with local operators for any updates on condition. These sites help provide new knowledge of reef health and monitor changes in years to come. This project is supported through Reef Catchments and we look forward to continuing to expand our work in this region.
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