Coral Expeditions leads Citizen Science Expedition on the Great Barrier Reef

A joint expedition partnership initiative between Coral Expeditions, the Australian Geographic and GBR Legacy took place this month when the Australian small ship cruise line brought together a cohort of conservation-minded guests and expert scientific specialists to partake in an inaugural “Citizens Science of the Great Barrier Reef” voyage over 10 nights from Cairns, Australia.

The expedition content was led by some of the world’s leading reef and species scientists and focused on two key conservation projects including an in-depth behavioural study of the rare dwarf minke whales and the surveying and sample collection of coral species to add to the Living Coral Biobank, a groundbreaking project to preserve and protect coral diversity for the future.

Dr Dean Miller, Managing Director of GBR Legacy, introduced guests onboard to the ‘how and why’ of collecting and preserving coral samples and to the vision of the Living Coral Biobank. “On this expedition, we were thrilled to double the collection we currently have, which is now at around 8% of the Great Barrier Reef’s diversity”, said Dr Miller. “With every coral bleaching event, we are at risk of losing the most vulnerable corals.” The work during the voyage increased the Living Coral Biobank by 35 species and involved a scientifically significant event when Dr Charlie Veron identified an entirely new species on the second day of the expedition.
The waters of the northern Great Barrier Reef host the only known predictable aggregation of dwarf minke whales during the few short winter months, and Minke Whale expert Dr Alistair Birtles was onboard to share his knowledge on their behaviour. Guests were able to enter the water in small numbers and with tightly managed protocols to share eye to eye encounters with these unique and curious creatures.

On day five, GBR Legacy’s Minke Whale Project research team experienced a 4-hour encounter with some great passes from a mother and calf, which allowed them to capture imagery of the family behaviour and collect valuable skin samples that will enable advances in species DNA research. Every passenger was on deck helping with the data collection and simply enjoying this spectacle as mum and calf interacted with the vessel and research team.

Coral Expeditions Product Manager, Ms Tamara Sweeting said, “We are proud of the vision and the outcome of our first fully-focused Citizen Science expedition. The deeply meaningful science projects were blended seamlessly with the renowned adventure holiday experience our guests are accustomed to. We immersed ourselves in the ecosystem of remote outer reefs and atolls of the Coral Sea and then relaxed in good company with sunset drinks on secluded sand cays at days end. That is the essence of our expedition experience.”

Coral Expeditions and its guests onboard contributed a sum of $30,000 in funding from the expedition to go towards the Living Biobank Project and has developed plans to conduct Citizen Science voyages annually in different regions of the Great Barrier Reef and further afield around Australia including natural events such as the 2022 Coral Spawning on the Great Barrier Reef, a 2023 hybrid Solar Eclipse Voyage in Australia’s North West and a turtle Conservation expedition along the length of the GBR in 2024.