Since April 2019 Reef Check Australia has been engaging and empowering the local Whitsundays community through the Whitsundays Citizen Science Project. RCA’s interim report summarises the project activities in the region. Highlights include the completion of 49 coral reef health surveys using Reef Check Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Eye on the Reef and CoralWatch coral health surveys to record data from 8 sites in the Whitsundays. New Ambassadors were trained and new surveyors have joined our team of dedicated volunteers to continue to collect high quality scientific data from the region.
“Inspiring the local community in the protection and preservation of their local reefs is crucial to developing Reef resilience. The more people who care about the Reef the more actions they will take in their everyday lives to protect it."
One of the highlights has been extensive engagement and involvement of traditional owners in the selection of new survey sites around Whitsunday island. We hope they will be an integral part of our ongoing reef monitoring activities in the second half of the project. Download the full Whitsundays Citizen Science Summary report HERE. For more details contact Nathan Cook on [email protected]
