Resources
The Morning Bulletin
15 October 2013
A NEW national opinion poll conducted by Essential Research show four in every five Australians want dredging and dumping banned in the Great Barrier Reef, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Great Barrier Reef campaign director Felicity Wishart said dredging and dumping should not be taking place in the World Heritage-listed reef. Read more
Mother Nature Network
03 October 2012
Channel NewsAsia
10 July 2013
Australia admitted Wednesday conditions at the Great Barrier Reef are "poor" as it battles UNESCO threats to downgrade its heritage status over concerns about pollution and development.
Environment Minister Mark Butler released a report card showing that the reef's health had slumped since 2009 due to cyclones and floods, despite progress on reducing agricultural runoff. Read more
Dredging Today
03 February 2014
The Australian and Queensland Governments yesterday released the 2014 State Party Report on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area which highlights the significant progress being made to improve the management, health and protection of this amazing iconic area.
This progress report has been delivered to the World Heritage Committee meeting currently underway and demonstrates unequivocally the Australian and Queensland Governments’ commitment to better managing and protecting this natural wonder. Read more
The Conversation
01 August 2013
The Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is one of the seven species of marine turtles and one of six in the family Cheloniidae. It is easily distinguished from other turtle species by its beak-like mouth and overlapping scales, or scutes. Harvested for centuries for their exquisitely patterned shell, some hawksbill populations now face an uncertain future.
Hawksbills, while widely distributed throughout the world’s tropical oceans, prefer warm, shallow waters and lagoons. Although hawksbills are most commonly associated with coral reef systems, they sometimes nest in mangrove-fringed islands or beaches. Like other marine turtles species, hawksbills are migratory and can swim long distances between breeding and feeding grounds. Read more
The Conversation
15 August 2013
Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are the largest, oldest and most widely distributed of the world’s marine turtles.
Its appearance alone distinguishes the leatherback from its relatives: shell-less and bluish black in colour, with seven fleshy ridges along its back, and dappled all over with white spots. It is the only extant member of the ancient Dermochelyidae family, which first appeared around 100 million years ago. Read more
The Conversation
17 October 2013
South-west of the port of Gladstone in Queensland lies Kroombit Tops National Park, housing many plants and animals, some of them unique. The reserve includes steep escarpments with wet, rainforest gullies.
Walk through these gullies during the spring-summer wet season and you might hear a unique “tink, tink, tink” sound. It sounds like a bird or someone hitting two tiny pieces of metal together, but actually it’s the Kroombit Tinker Frog. This tiny frog – growing to no more than 25mm – is found nowhere else. Read more
The Conversation
17 May 2013
Torrent frogs are an interesting group of frogs found in the rainforests of north-east Australia. There are four species in the group: the Mountain Mistfrog (Litoria nyakalensis), the Armoured Mistfrog (Litoria lorica), the Waterfall Frog (Litoria nannotis) and the Common Mistfrog (Litoria rheocola). Read more
International Business Times
30 August 2013
From above, Lady Elliot Island appears off Australia’s Fraser Coast like a tiny green discus in the vast blue of the Coral Sea. Up close, it's a place of exquisite details, and once I find myself 17 meters (55 feet) below the surface of its turquoise outer fringe, its not-so-tiny wonders come into sharp focus.
There are whitetip sharks that squirrel past and send pangs of electricity up my spine. There are mammoth manta rays the size of a car and the shape of a pancake gliding by, all in a row, en route to a “cleaning station.” There are green and loggerhead turtles, which make graceful cameos before meandering away onto a distant reef shelf, and unseen humpback whales whose moans become the eery ballads of the winter sea. Read more
ABC News
11 June 2014
Authorities in far north Queensland say they have been able to stop one of the world's most invasive weed species from spreading further into World Heritage-listed rainforest.
The Douglas Shire Council's open spaces coordinator, Peter Logan, says the Mossman River catchment has the only known hiptage infestation in north Queensland and the largest in Australia. Read more