Earth Day: Great Barrier Reef declared a ‘Hope Spot’

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Divers during a Great Reef Census survey expedition. Image: Grumpy Turtle Creative.

The Great Barrier Reef has officially been declared a Hope Spot by Mission Blue — a global marine alliance led by legendary oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr. Sylvia Earle.

Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef have been named Champions of the newly launched Hope Spot, in support of their work with a range of partners across tourism, research and conservation on projects to protect and conserve the GBR.

To celebrate the launch of the new Hope Spot, which coincides with Earth Day (today), Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef and Mission Blue are calling on ocean lovers across the globe to dive in and take part in a live conservation action to help protect the GBR.

By joining their Earth Day online event, citizen scientists can visit greatreefcensus.org and help analyse some of the thousands of survey images captured from across the GBR during the inaugural Great Reef Census — and in doing so, contribute directly to the future of the newly launched GBR Hope Spot.

Each image can be analysed by anyone, anywhere, with internet access and a few minutes to spare.

Citizen scientists analyse an image on the Great Reef Census website. Image: Supplied.

Hope Spots are special places that have been identified by Mission Blue as critical to the health of the ocean. Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue, said her first glimpse of the Great Barrier Reef was in 1975 and she has been drawn back there repeatedly.

“It is perhaps the greatest treasure of the natural world, but so much has already been lost, and more is at risk of being lost right now unless people step up to save what remains and restore what can still be restored,” she said.

“One person can’t do everything, but everyone can do one thing. I applaud Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, their partners, and volunteers for leading the charge and using technology to call upon the entire planet to help save the Reef – together.”

Spearheaded by Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, the first-ever Great Reef Census captured more than 13,000 survey images from across the 2,300km length of the GBR between October and December 2020.

Legendary oceanographer and National Geographic Explore Dr Sylvia Earle from Mission Blue. Image: Todd Brown.

Hundreds of volunteer hours were committed from scientists, dive crew, tourists and conservation groups who reached and surveyed hundreds of reef sites from the tip of Cape York to the remote southern Swains.

More than 12,000 images have already been analysed by people around the world, from school kids to staff volunteer groups at Disney, Atlassian and Dell, but with only one week left until the project officially closes on April 30, the ambition is to rally the entire global ocean-loving community to analyse as many images as possible, as many times as possible.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Mission Blue as Champions of the Great Barrier Reef Hope Spot,” said Andy Ridley, CEO Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef.

“You can make a real contribution to the new Hope Spot today by joining this important citizen science project, no matter where you are in the world. You don’t need to be an expert — it’s simple, fun and will help scientists better understand how the Reef is changing year-on-year due to climate change.”

The Champions’ aim to scale up the Great Reef Census in late 2021 to survey even more reefs and demonstrate a scalable, 21st century conservation model that can be exported to coral reefs across the globe.

In addition to the next Great Reef Census, other Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef projects include Reef Tracks, a marine life tracker launched on BBC’s Blue Planet Live, as well as an interactive Wikipedia-meets-YouTube guide to the Reef, Oceanpedia, launching in mid-2021.

Want to help protect the Great Barrier Reef Hope Spot? Take part at greatreefcensus.org. 

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