A new reef patrol vessel called the will help safeguard and monitor the Great Barrier Reef. 

The Reef Ranger, a 24-metre aluminium catamaran, was built by Gold Coast firm Marine Engineering Consultants using a $5 million grant from the Queensland and Federal governments. 

The Reef Ranger was named and launched by Queensland National Parks Minister Steve Dickson and Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt in Cairns last week..

“The vessel will act as a floating ranger to monitor and protect the Reef in the most efficient and effective way possible,,” Mr Dickson said.

“The new boat can operate away from port for 12 weeks, has a range of up to 2000 nautical miles, a speed of up to 25 knots and can carry 28 people, so it gives us the freedom to spend more time on activities that protect the reef and support tourism.”

Minister Hunt said Reef Ranger was twice as fast as its 24-year-old predecessor, the Kerra Lyn, as well as being more environmentally friendly and more cost-effective.

“The new vessel is capable of reaching all corners of the 348,000 square kilometre Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, which improves our ability to respond to incidents quickly, and to service all parts of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

“Time saved travelling means more time on-site at important and often remote breeding and nesting sites of some of the marine park’s threatened seabird and turtle species,” Mr Hunt said.

“The boat will be used for a huge range of activities such as monitoring compliance with zoning rules, maintaining popular island visitor sites and moorings and fire and weed control on islands.”

The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) said construction of the Reef Ranger was a good move but there was still plenty more to be done to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

“CAFNEC welcomes the commissioning of the new reef monitoring vessel,” CAFNEC Marine Programs Coordinator Josh Coates said. 

“While this represents a positive step forward in an area that is lagging below par, there is a lot more that must be done to secure our reef health into the future - crucially, we must address the historical decline in water quality, which in turn leads to increased crown of thorn starfish numbers and poor reef recovery from storms, cyclones and bleaching.  

“We need to see continued and increased support to address agricultural, urban and pastoral runoff to the reef and the stopping of new capital dredging programs.” 

The Reef Ranger will be based in Cairns but will spend more than 200 days of the year at sea.

Mr Dickson said some of the tasks the boat would undertake included surveying for crown-of-thorns and monitoring the turtle population on Raine Island.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is roughly the size of Italy or Japan, so rangers have a lot of territory to cover in their day-to-day work.

A typical day might involve monitoring compliance of zoning rules, maintaining facilities such as camping grounds and moorings, fire and weed control on islands, working with Traditional Owners on their sea country, or responding to boating or shipping incidents such as fuel spills.