The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has funded its first project after being awarded the controversial $443m grant. The project is a 25-day health survey of remote parts of the reef by the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Eighteen scientists and crew are on board the research vessel RV Solander and are surveying more than 20 reefs to check for signs of coral recovery since bleaching as a result of high ocean temperatures caused mass coral mortality in 2016 and 2017.
The foundation’s managing director, Anna Marsden, said the findings from this survey would be used to guide future monitoring work and the allocation of further funding through the reef grant for climate adaptation work and crown-of-thorns starfish control.