Reef Check Australia Update October 2011

After settling into their new headquarters in Brisbane, Reef Check Australia jumped right into several new projects. The first of many was the launch of REEFSearch, a new community engagement program, which got underway in May at Lady Elliot Island as part of Tourism Queensland’s Best Expedition in the World. With the support of active partners, Reef Check Australia continues to monitor this new pilot program and has reported great feedback.

The new Grey Nurse Shark Watch program, a project that helps volunteers actively contribute to a community-based photographic identification system, was launched in June. The collective national database from this program continues to better protect this critically endangered species.

The month of July welcomed new surveyors to Reef Check Australia as the team completed another successful volunteer training course in Townsville. Following a visit with headquarters in Los Angeles in August to discuss continued contributions to the worldwide program, members of Reef Check Australia presented data collected by volunteers at the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity in Aberdeen, Scotland in September.

The upcoming months hold great things for Reef Check Australia! They will host a seminar at the Oceanic Dive and Ecotourism Expo in Brisbane in October in addition to kicking off the survey season with numerous surveys in both North and Southeast Queensland.