GBR Biology

That’s a wrap on our CCIP fine-scale juvenile Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (CoTS) monitoring program! 👏… for now 👀

Over the past few months, we’ve brought together tourism operators and Traditional Owners to build a stronger early warning system for future CoTS outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef. 🪸

Together, we trained:
🪸 Six tourism operators across Great Adventures, Passions of Paradise and Down Under Cruise and Dive.
🪸 Eight Traditional Owners from Malu Ventures, combining fine-scale monitoring with the invaluable knowledge and cultural connection of Sea Country.

This program highlights the important role tourism operators play as the eyes and ears of the Reef, working alongside Traditional Owners whose deep connection to Sea Country brings valuable knowledge and perspective to reef stewardship. Together, these partnerships are helping strengthen the future of reef monitoring and protection.

📍 Gunggandji and Yirriganydji Sea Countries, Reef Magic - Cairns ☀️ Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel 🐠

*This project is part of the CoTS Control Innovation Program Bridging Phase, funded by the Australian Government Reef Trust, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, in collaboration with the Reef Authority, Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, Yirrganydji Aboriginal Corporation and Gunggandji Aboriginal Corporation.
As part of our Tourism Reef Protection Initiative.

Here’s a sneak peek at just some of the incredible encounters we’ve had during the first week of Cairns Whale Watching! 🐋

These humpback whales undertake an annual round-trip migration of around 20,000 km, from their southern feeding grounds around Antarctica to the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef to mate and give birth, making it one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom.

Whether you’re an avid wildlife photographer or simply love capturing the magic, your photos can help our marine biologists identify individual humpback whales by matching the unique patterns on their tail flukes, contributing to valuable long-term research. Prefer to sit back, relax and enjoy the show? Our onboard photographers from Stuart Ireland have you covered, with incredible professional images of your encounter available to purchase.

The whales have already made the journey… now it’s your turn! Join us aboard Cairns Whale Watching and experience the magic of humpback season from the best seat in the house, right here in our own backyard. 🐋🩵

📍 Carins Whale Watching, Fitzroy Island Adventures

📸 Stuart Ireland

When you’ve just finished hyping up the guests on your guided snorkel tour about the vacuum cleaners of the reef… the humble sea cucumber. 🥒

…only to watch a Titan Triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens) make off with one like it’s a forbidden midnight snack. 😂

Titan Triggerfish are opportunistic feeders, and this one definitely saw an opportunity and swam off with it. While they’re best known for crunching through hard-shelled prey like sea urchins, crabs and molluscs, they’ll happily take advantage of an easy meal when it presents itself.

Then, just when we thought the show was over, an Orange-lined Triggerfish (Balistapus undulatus) arrived to clean up the leftovers, proving that on the reef, nothing goes to waste!

📍 Gunggandji Sea Country, Reef Magic - Cairns ☀️
📸 Photographer: Emilio Posada