The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is involved in a number of initiatives aimed at educating, monitoring and promoting the Marine Park to its users.

Members of the public, schools and businesses can join together to help protect this valuable resource by participating in some of the programs listed here.

BleachWatch - part of the Coral Bleaching Response Plan

BleachWatch is a community-based coral reef monitoring initiative, which runs in summer when the risk of coral bleaching is highest. Tourism operators, recreational and commercial fishers, organisations, researchers and students as well as one-off visitors to the Reef can participate. Data is used to calculate the likelihood of widespread coral bleaching events.

More information on BleachWatch

Eyes and Ears incident reporting

Eyes and Ears incident reporting has been set up for tourism operators who are regularly out on the water. Operators can report to GBRMPA things they see that should not be happening in the Marine Park, for example illegal fishing and littering or provide information on damaged moorings. 

More information on Eyes and Ears incident reporting  

Eye on the Reef monitoring program

The Eye on the Reef is a partnership between the tourism industry, the GBRMPA and the reef research community. Selected tourism operators collect a range of biological information at frequently visited reef and island sites. The data is stored in a database available to reef managers and reef researchers and site reports are prepared for tourism operators and crew.

Visit www.eyeonthereef.com.au

Marine Monitoring program

The implementation of the Marine Monitoring program is a collaborative effort between the government, community, industries, scientists and Marine Park managers. The GBRMPA has identified many areas for hands-on participation by individuals and local community and industry groups.

More information on the Marine Monitoring program

Reef Guardian Councils

The program is designed to raise awareness and encourage best environmental management practice in local government. Councils in the Great Barrier Reef catchment are encouraged to get involved.

More information on Reef Guardian Councils

Reef Guardian Schools

Is an action-based school participation program related to current issues affecting the Great Barrier Reef. Schools across Queensland are encouraged to get involved.

More information on Reef Guardian Schools

ReefCheck

ReefCheck is part of an international non-profit organisation involving the community in monitoring coral reef health. The Great Barrier Reef project involves more than 20 dive operators and volunteers who monitor key dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea.

Visit www.reefcheckaustralia.org

ReefFutures

Reef Futures program collects and synthesises information from a variety of sources on the Great Barrier Reef including weather stations and temperature loggers at reef sites.

Visit www.reeffutures.org

ReefTemp 

ReefTemp is a collaborative project between the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), CSIRO Marine Research, and the Bureau of Meteorology. ReefTemp is the first sea-surface temperature monitoring and mapping product in Australia tailored specifically for coral bleaching and builds on pioneering work done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ReefTemp is used to monitor increases in sea surface temperature which can trigger coral bleaching events.

More information on ReefTemp

High standard tourism operators

The GBRMPA encourages high standard marine tourism operations. High standard operations are those operations that are ecologically sustainable and are helping to protect and present the Marine Park to a consistently high standard. 

More information on high standard tourism operators