Our Long-term Monitoring Program (LTMP) team look forward to more pleasant weather on the Great Barrier Reef as we enter the dry season. And yet…
Their penultimate reef surveying trip of 2025/26 had some of the most persistent rough weather so far 🌊 At least there was a chance to swim with manta rays!
Not to be deterred, and with all safety protocols checked, our experienced team nevertheless managed to survey 14 reefs during this 20-day trip to the Whitsundays and Townsville sector of the Reef’s central region.
They also got a chance to check in on the corals around the Whitsunday Islands, where Cyclone Debbie caused extensive damage in 2017. Many corals were growing back nicely, but this recovery has taken almost a decade. The team’s long-term datasets contributed to recently published research on the recovery of corals and reef fish populations in this area – finding coral-associated fish declined significantly post-cyclone, and had not fully recovered several years later.
You can read that study here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0329995
This is the 40th ( 🤯 ) year of the LTMP. These four-decades of data gathering have been comprehensive and systematic, with the team visiting the same survey sites year after year.
There is just one more set of reefs to survey this season, beginning later this month. Then stay tuned for the annual reef condition report due in August.
Can’t wait? Learn more about the LTMP here: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/long-term-monitoring-program
