Latest News
Collaboration is sweet
An interactive map recently released by Australian sugar cane industry peak body Canegrowers shows over a decade of collaboration between the industry and Great Barrier Reef research, including multiple Tropical Water Quality (TWQ) Hub... Read More
New paper shows nutrients play vital roles in coral bleaching
Key Points Coral bleaching involves the break-up of symbiosis between corals and their algal partners and has resulted in rapid and severe reductions to coral cover and recruitment on the Great Barrier Reef... Read More
‘Reef grief’ highlights need for renewed effort to protect and heal Great Barrier Reef
Research delivered through NERP Tropical Ecosystems Hub (the predecessor to NESP TWQ) has illustrated the role played by emotive media coverage of the mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016... Read More
Indigenous rangers trained in managing mangroves on their country
Healthy mangrove forests play a vital role to maintaining the quality of water flowing out to the Great Barrier Reef, and Traditional Owners have a strong interest in helping monitor and manage their... Read More
Working with Traditional Owners to monitor mangrove health
Working with Tropical Water Quality Hub researchers, Bundaberg-based indigenous ranger group Gidarjil Development Corporation has built its capacity to monitor and manage the health of mangrove ecosystems within the Port Curtis Coral Coast’s... Read More
RRRC partners with local tour company to show reef recovery to decision-makers
Decision-makers involved in the Australian government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP) saw the recovery of corals on the Great Barrier Reef first-hand last week courtesy of a local tourism operator. The group, which... Read More
Project Spotlight
Project 4.3
Led by Dr Ian McLeod, JCU
Best practice coral restoration for the Great Barrier Reef
As the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) continues to degrade through repeated mass bleaching events, crown-of-thorns starfish and major disease outbreaks, and the impacts of intense cyclones, pressure is growing for direct intervention to assist the recovery of reef-building corals. Decreasing coral cover on the GBR and other Australian reefs has been recognised as a serious problem relatively recently in Australia but follows a global trend, with many overseas reefs now highly degraded. Various types of coral restoration, rehabilitation and assisted recovery projects have been trialled overseas for decades and it makes sense to look at what has and hasn’t worked overseas to determine a range of options that may suit GBR conditions. Some direct interventions to assist coral recovery have been trialled in Australia such as transplanting corals, algae removal to promote coral recovery and larval enhancement promoting direct coral recruitment. In addition, after physical damage from cyclones, ship strikes or dragged anchors, local dive operators and dive clubs (permitted or unpermitted) often attempt to assist the recovery of corals by tipping over flipped tabular corals and reattaching broken branching corals or sea fans. These latter assisted recovery techniques are rarely underpinned by scientific data on coral recovery. A lack of best practice guidelines for these actions limits the chance of success and increases the health and safety risks of these activities. Read more
Project Leaders
