Citizens of the Reef

We're excited to say that we are working on big things beyond our home horizon of the Great Barrier Reef. We have changed our name to Citizens of the Reef because our mission isn't just local anymore, we're here to protect coral reefs around the world! We launched the Great Reef Census on the Great Barrier Reef in response to the shocking mass bleaching events that hit coral reefs around the world in 2016 and 2017. Now, after five years of perfecting our Census methodology, we are in a place where we can conduct in-water surveys and subsequent image analyses supported by AI at an accuracy rate of ~95% compared to expert analysis. With everyday people and community at the heart of its success, the Census has enabled us to deliver broad scale reconnaissance data about the state of reef sites, helping scientists and reef managers identify key source reefs and prioritise reefs for protection, as well as help direct control of Crown of Thorns Starfish. This information is critical when delivering timely and targeted protection, conservation and stewardship on coral reefs. We can see the urgent need to scale up these conservation efforts on coral reef systems beyond the Great Barrier Reef, and after testing and perfecting our methodology on the world's largest and most complex reef system, our Great Reef Census is ready to go global! Stay tuned for what’s next 🌍✨ #CitizensoftheReef #GreatReefCensus #ReefConvservation #CoralReefConservation #CoralReefProtection

We are thrilled to share an update on the Reef Cooperative, an initiative we co-developed and co-manage with Yirrganydji Land and Sea Rangers, Gunggandji Rangers, Mars Sustainable Solutions and GBR Biology. The Co-Op embraces collaboration in pursuit of the mission to combat the urgent challenge of coral reef loss worldwide. We launched in 2022 with our founding funder Cotton On Foundation, to build a local and self-sufficient community that surveys Sea Country and delivers conservation interventions on reefs off Cairns. This initiative is a collective of some of the brightest minds working to protect and conserve the Great Barrier Reef, combining Traditional Knowledge and leading marine science. Achievements include: 🪸 First Nations Reef Intervention Training Program (RITP): In collaboration with Yirrganydji Land and Sea Rangers, GBR Biology, and Gunggandji Land and Sea Rangers, the program provides young Indigenous leaders with comprehensive skills, including dive training, survey methodologies, and reef star building. In under 1 year of our RITP, 8 Yirrganydji and Gunggandji Traditional Owners have gained skills in:  VET Rescue Dive certification  Steel construction of Reef Stars  Identifying and collecting coral ‘fragments of opportunity’  Prepping Reef Stars for installation  Great Reef Census survey training 🪸 Supporting the Development and Evolution of Citizens of the Reef’s Great Reef Census: Great Reef Census surveys are regularly conducted through the Reef Cooperative to identify areas of coral reefs that are the most valuable to the broader reef system and are the highest priority for the Co-op to implement protection, restoration and stewardship. To date, Census data has updated protection modelling for 3,332 out of 3,806 reefs (88% of the GBR).   🪸 MARRS Reef Star Factory: Officially opened in 2023, this facility serves as a manufacturing hub for reef stars and a training ground in steel construction. Loose coral fragments are collected and attached to these coral stabilisation devices which are then installed on various coral rubble patches on Yirrganydji and Gunggandji Sea Country. So far, we have installed 96 stars on Moore Reef and 200 on Hastings Reef. 🪸 Yirrganydji Reef Cooperative Educational Program: In partnership with Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation, we launched a 5-lesson course teaching high school students about local Traditional Owner connections and stewardship on Land and Sea Country. This program launched in early 2024, and engaged school students in the Great Reef Census as a way to be stewards of their own reef. Seeing the Co-Op come to life, it's clear that innovation, knowledge-sharing and a non-competitive approach to coral restoration will ensure the future of our reefs across many regions. Thank you to all our partners for believing in this mission, we look forward to more great work together for the health of our reef ecosystems.  #CitizensOfTheReef #ReefCooperative #CoralConservation

Citizens of the Reef Great Reef Census 5 expeditions are ready to hit the water, and we need your help! Following a mass coral bleaching event earlier this year, in-water surveys are more crucial than ever to understand impacts across the Great Barrier Reef. Great Reef Census 5 will carry out these surveys six months post-bleaching, a key time to assess medium to long-term impacts. Our fleet of crowd-sourced research vessels is ready to take to the water and collect images from across the far reaches of the Great Barrier Reef. Our Marine Operations Manager Seán Daly has organised expeditions from Gladstone, Mission Beach, Cairns and more, where passengers will explore largely untouched areas. These expeditions offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience while contributing vital data to the Census. All data collected on our expeditions will be sent to The University of Queensland's Marine Spatial Ecology Lab to inform reef prioritisation models that identify key source and refugia reefs—those best positioned to withstand damage and support nearby reefs. Additionally, this data currently informs the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's reef protection efforts via Crown of Thorns Starfish Control. If you’re a keen snorkeler join us on an official Citizens of the Reef expedition, otherwise you can support this massive effort by donating at https://lnkd.in/gZFNTK5a To get involved in a Census expedition, email Sean at hq@citizensgbr.org or visit greatreefcensus.org/marine. See you on the water! The Great Reef Census is a Citizens of the Reef project in partnership with The University of Queensland Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Dell Technologies Sahaj Software The Walt Disney Company Mars Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University. The project would not be possible without support from Cotton On Foundation Prior Family Foundation, the Australian Government’s National Environment Science Program and the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre and Mindshare #GreatReefCensus #MarineExpeditions #GreatBarrierReef #CitizenScience #Snorkeling #ProtectOurOceans #Queensland #Cairns #ExploreCairnsGBRGreatReefCensus #MarineExpeditions #GreatBarrierReef #CitizenScience

Thank you to all partners and everyone involved in Great Reef Census 4! 📷🪸 This year’s Great Reef Census Image Analysis was a huge success! With the help of our global community, the Census is one of the largest citizen scientist initiatives in the world. We achieved some amazing results, with 5,000+ citizen scientists analysing 184,100 reef images. This crowd-sourced analysis model is 95% as accurate as analysis completed by experts, proving that combining people power, AI, and science is the new frontier of large-scale conservation. One of our proudest achievements during this census was our inaugural school program. Students from 53 schools around Australia participated in the Great Reef Census as citizen scientists. The program proved a huge success in not only making STEM fun but also empowering our next generation of young reef conservationists. Census data has already helped scientists and managers locate dozens of ‘key source reefs’, those most important to coral recovery. It has also updated importance scores for 88% of all reefs within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. This is a huge achievement for a project led in the water and online by citizen scientists to gather large-scale reconnaissance data each year. When you joined us in the water, your employees donated screen time to analyse images, and if you supported us financially, you helped conserve this iconic natural wonder. The Census will remain open, so it's not too late to analyse more images before our 5th Great Reef Census kicks off! The Great Reef Census is a Citizens of the Reef project in partnership with The University of Queensland Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Dell Technologies Sahaj Software The Walt Disney Company Mars Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University. The project would not be possible without support from Cotton On Foundation Prior Family Foundation, the Australian Government’s National Environment Science Program, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre and Mindshare. #GreatReefCensus #CitizensoftheReef #ScienceUnderSail #ReefConservation #ReefSurvey

Last week we went out to Moore Reef with our Reef Cooperative partners Mars and GBR Biology. We were experimenting with integrating rubble patch detection into #GreatReefCensus surveys, which are about to kick off again in September! Take a look at the special guests who said hello to us whilst swimming through the #Reef 🐋 We also recovered a small ghost net there - #ghostnets are abandoned fishing nets that can cause great damage to marine animals and #coral reefs. We have found multiple ghost nets on Great Reef Census trips on the #GreatBarrierReef over the years - we always work to recover them safely when surveying to keep our Reef strong 💪 💙

🏆Congratulations to the incredible Harper from Hahndorf Primary School in South Australia 🏆 Harper has won our Great Reef Census schools program fair and square, analysing 2,100 reef images in term two. His prize is a trip up to Cairns with his family to see the Great Barrier Reef for the first time! 🤿🐠 On top of this, Harper's classmates at @hahndorf_primary analysed 21,000 images all together making up half of all the images analysed as part of the program! These guys are true Reef Warriors! 🐠 Our schools program was an overwhelming success this year with 53 schools taking part and more than 2,000 students involved. Students have been a huge part of the our Great Reef Census image analysis campaign and we're excited to see the program continue to grow over the next year. If you'd like to get your school involved, check out 👉 https://lnkd.in/djsp9PmV Thanks Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN), Queensland Government, Reef Magic , Crystalbrook Collection for making this possible!

This week Citizens of the Reef visited Moore Reef with our Reef Cooperative partners Mars and GBR Biology in preparation for the fifth #GreatReefCensus (which begins in just two weeks!) We were on Moore Reef experimenting with integrating rubble patch detection into Great Reef Census surveys. We are looking to see if the Census methodology can expand its science impact to also find new sites for MARRS Reef Star restoration techniques. There will be two components of this - capturing images of rubble in the water, and also integrating it on our AI and human eye analysis platform. An exciting development for the Census, not only on our #GreatBarrierReef but also as we expand to more reef geographies in the coming year! The Walt Disney Company, Cotton On Foundation, Prior Family Foundation, Dell Technologies, Mindshare

Throwback to being the charity partner for Cairns Crocodiles. It was a pleasure to showcase the impact we have achieved through the Great Reef Census. With incredible support and coordination from Mindshare, the media industry has donated more than $10 million of ad space to support the recruitment of thousands of virtual citizen scientists. 🪸 Cairns Crocodiles gave us the opportunity to thank the amazing people that helped us along the way, share our plans for the future, inspire some big ideas and discuss the power of purpose driven impact. 🙌 Can't wait to welcome Cairns Crocodiles back to our tropical paradise next year. 🌴 Andy Ridley Nicole Senn #innovation #cannesincairns

Citizens of the Reef is excited to announce our new board chair - Bernard Reilly, CFA. Bern is highly-regarded in the international banking and finance sector achieving several high-profile accolades over his impressive 30+ year career. Bern played an instrumental role in overseeing the biggest and most complex merger in Australian superannuation history to create Australian Retirement Trust in his position as CEO. Bern joins Citizens at a pivotal time as we expand the Great Reef Census impact project globally, continue to build on the successful Reef Cooperative project here in Australia and to further nurture our partnerships with the world's most innovative and trusted brands including Walt Disney Foundation, Dell Technologies, Cotton On Foundation, MARS, Prior Family Foundation, University of Queensland, Sahaj, Mindshare and more. "I am excited to join Citizens of the Reef as the organisation enters such an important stage of growth. As all Australians know, the Great Barrier Reef is not only one of the world's greatest natural icons, but has also become an important base for some of the most innovative approaches to scalable conservation. I look forward to working with the very talented Board and team and in particular exploring sustainable funding mechanisms that enable conservation to expand at a local and global level." says Reilly about his appointment. Bern is also joined on the board by Nicole Salimbeni, partner at PWC and existing board members Reef Rainforest Research Centre MD, Sheriden Morris, Former Village Roadshow CEO, Chris Chard, Vice President Presales, Dell Technologies (APJ), Danny Elmarji.

We are thrilled to announce The Walt Disney Company is supporting The Great Reef Census to expand globally to include two new pilot Census projects in addition to the Great Barrier Reef. Disney has supported Citizens of the Reef since 2021 including through grants from the Disney Conservation Fund and having hundreds of Disney VoluntEARS from around the world participating in the Census to help identify critical reef information for scientists. We’re excited to build on and accelerate our conservation efforts globally.