Minister for Environment, John Thwaites, presents the Victorian Coastal Council Award to Reef Watch Coordinator Wendy Roberts.
Image: Sylvia Buchanan
Source: Sylvia Buchanan
Reef Watch wins Victorian Coastal Council Award for Excellence 2005 – Innovation.
Victoria is home to one of the world's most unique and diverse temperate marine environments, with many species found only within our southern seas. However there are still gaps in our knowledge, and gaining a better understanding of the distribution and diversity of species requires strong community support.
Reef Watch is a program which aims to increase our knowledge by assisting Victorian divers and snorkellers to identify, record and share their observations about marine life seen at their favourite dive locations.
Launched in December 2002, the program now includes over 220 volunteer ‘Reef Watchers,’ who have completed 245 surveys at 45 sites along the coast. Using underwater monitoring kits designed by marine scientists from Museum Victoria, they record the animals and plants seen whilst diving. Divers also notify Reef Watch if changes to habitats or species occur.
Divers have also added to Museum Victoria’s records: finding an introduced species of nudibranch (Thecacera pennigera) previously unrecorded in Victoria, filming rare Port Phillip Bay fish and submitting photographs of nudibranchs and flatworms for a field guide to be produced at the Museum.
Reef Watch was initially developed by the Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Marine and Coastal Community Network. It is funded by the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority and hosted at Museum Victoria.
For further information, contact Reef Watch Coordinator Wendy Roberts at info@reefwatchvic.asn.au or visit the Reef Watch website.