{"id":870085,"date":"2026-08-27T09:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870085\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T09:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:32:09","slug":"sky-surveys-for-great-barrier-reef-site-stewardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870085\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky surveys for Great Barrier Reef site stewardship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"335\" width=\"475\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Reefs_625x442.jpg\" alt=\"A person launching a drone from a boat to conduct a reef survey\" class=\"wp-image-47451\"  \/>Credit: Quicksilver Group<\/p>\n<p>Aerial surveys across three high-value Great Barrier Reef sites have captured data for long-term monitoring, research and conservation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Quicksilver Group\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quicksilvergroup.com.au\/news.html?id=170\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Reef Biosearch<\/a> marine biologists took advantage of one of the lowest astronomical tides of the year to capture high-resolution aerial imagery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The surveys were conducted over two days at Agincourt Reef 3, Moore Reef and Michaelmas Cay, using GEONadir software for advanced reef mapping and impact assessment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The combination of exceptionally low tides, low winds and clear skies provided the ideal opportunity to capture detailed aerial imagery of reef areas that are normally underwater.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe drone surveys are designed to build a detailed spatial record of each reef site, creating high-resolution imagery that can be used alongside in-water observations and other scientific monitoring programs,\u201d said Quicksilver Group Environment and Compliance Manager, Phil Coulthard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese projects are very exciting and will be used for long-term reef health assessment, and to assess impacts of all sorts of natural occurrences and disturbances such as global warming, increased water temperatures, crown-of-thorns starfish, storm damage \u2014 impacts that can be measured, or monitored for potential damage control interventions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reef Biosearch first introduced drone assessments in early 2025, conducting aerial surveys to map the reef surrounding Quicksilver\u2019s pontoon at Agincourt Reef.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest surveys build upon this success, forming comprehensive site stewardship activities in tandem with the Great Barrier Marine Park Reef Authority\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gbrmpa.gov.au\/our-work\/programs-and-projects\/tourism-reef-protection-initiative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Tourism Reef Protection Initiative<\/a> program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese actions not only promote reef resilience actions at our own sites, but also provides a wealth of data that the Reef Authority can use for management decisions, policy development and adaptive management strategies for the entire Marine Park,\u201d said Coulthard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Quicksilver Group Aerial surveys across three high-value Great Barrier Reef sites have captured data for long-term monitoring,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[438544,64,63,174355,1044,438545,128],"class_list":["post-870085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-aerial-imagery","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gis","tag-great-barrier-reef","tag-marine-geospatial","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}