Local couple responsible for a major piece of reef resilience and recovery

Great Barrier Reef

Last updated: 24/02/2022, 16:30:00 (AEST)

John and Jenny Edmondson, both marine biologists and co-owners of the Port Douglas-based Wavelength Reef Cruises set out to help tourism operators build reef resilience after the 2016 bleaching event. IMAGE: Calypso Productions

Key points

A four-year partnership between science and tourism
Six Queensland tourism operators, led by Wavelength reef Cruises, plant 70,000 coral fragments
85% survival rates with spawning of first out-plants a “monumental milestone”
Coral Nurture Program is showing some spectacular growth

An underwater brigade of ecologists, biologists and tourism operators donned their neoprene “uniforms” and united off the coast of Cairns last Thursday to check the results of a four-year Coral Nurture Program that aims to protect high-value Great Barrier Reef sites against future extreme weather events.

We are seeing a really amazing percentage of coral cover now simply because of both planting and natural recovery,” says Jenny Edmondson. IMAGE: Calypso Productions

Funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the program is a joint partnership between University of Technology Sydney (UTS) scientists and the Port Douglas-based Wavelength Reef Cruises.

Speaking from Opal Reef after wrapping up a two-week expedition last Friday, lead UTS researcher and coral scientist, Professor David Suggett said the Coral Nurture Program was “an unprecedented success”.

“It’s been a year since we’ve been able to visit these specific reef sites and they are looking spectacular. We’ve had two years now of really great growing conditions. The coral is looking very vibrant. We are seeing lots more recruitment, so it gives us lots of positive encouragement that the (Coral Nurture) reef sites are recovering.”

“The collective action of operators planting tens of thousands of corals means we can now start to understand how, when and why coral replanting is successful. That is now feeding forward to new stewardship-based management for the Great Barrier Reef,” said Professor Suggett.