Traditional Owners hold important cultural and spiritual connections to Country, including sea Country on the Great Barrier Reef. These connections power deep knowledge and care for the Reef, and inherent rights and responsibility for its future.
Reducing emissions is critical to ensuring the future of coral reefs around the world. However, good local management and interventions to restore reefs are also required. While the world works towards reducing emissions, AIMS’ continues to collaborate with scientists, engineers and Traditional Owners in Australia to develop a suite of approaches to fast-track reef recovery and resilience delivered at large scales.
At the heart of these approaches is harnessing the Great Barrier Reef’s own way to reproduce, replenish, heal and adapt - coral spawning.
But it is a huge challenge for science teams to reach the large scale required by interventions on their own.
As well as developing innovative restoration approaches, we are also building the foundations for their practical delivery across large areas of the Reef by harnessing people power.
By building foundations today, Traditional Owners and other Reef community groups are informed, prepared, enabled and empowered to lead and participate in securing a future for the Reef.
Training Great Barrier Reef Indigenous Rangers at Heron Island for the 2024 On Country Spawning
In November 2024, Indigenous Rangers from six Traditional Owner groups will gather on Heron Island on the southern Great Barrier Reef on Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang, Byelle and Taribelang Bunda land and sea Country to train in advanced reef restoration techniques developed through the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP).
Indigenous Rangers will be joined by Indigenous researchers, interns and trainees as well as scientists and support staff from AIMS and RRAP to build on their skills in a range of restoration activities, which harness the largest coral reproductive event of the year – mass coral spawning. The Indigenous Rangers will be trained to:
- deploy larval pools
- collect coral larvae from surface slicks
- establish an island-based coral aquaculture system
- deploy coral larvae and coral seeding devices on the reef and
- monitor coral settlement and young corals over time to determine success.
The Indigenous Rangers, interns and trainees will be guided by AIMS’ Indigenous training and capacity building team from AIMS Indigenous Partnerships Program and RRAP marine scientists with specialties in coral spawning and aquaculture techniques will provide foundation training in coral restoration and monitoring.
2024 Sea Ranger Traditional Owner group participants
Rangers from the following Traditional owner groups will participate at Heron Island in 2024 On Country coral spawning:
- Gidarjil Development Corporation
- Yuku Baja Muliku Rangers
- Darumbal Rangers
- Mingga Mingga Rangers
- Woppaburra Rangers
- Gudjuda Rangers
The Indigenous Futures Project
The AIMS-led Indigenous Futures Project works in partnership with Indigenous Ranger groups and the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program. Its goal is to empower Traditional Owners to lead in caring for sea Country through reef restoration techniques developed to help reefs recover and build resilience to the effects of climate change.
This project provides a pilot group of Indigenous Rangers with advanced skills in reef interventions, enabled to lead these activities within their ranger groups for the future of sea Country when and where required.
This three-year project began in 2023 and includes formal accreditation units for participants in Certificate III in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. Through the development of accredited training resources, this project lays an important foundation to support future Traditional Owner-led intervention activities and contribute to large-scale efforts to help the future of the Reef.
This training opportunity is funded by the Traditional Owner Partnership component of the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Connections to sea Country
AIMS understands these connections and inherent responsibilities of Traditional Owner groups and seeks to build strong and productive relationships in marine science.
We do this by establishing genuine Indigenous science partnerships with Traditional Owners,and are guided by our Indigenous Partnerships Program.
AIMS acknowledges the rights of Traditional Owners to decide what activities AIMS can and cannot do on sea Country through Free Prior and Informed Consent.
Learn more about AIMS' Indigenous Partnerships
Climate change and the Reef
Climate change is the greatest threat to reefs worldwide. Reducing emissions is critical to ensure the future of coral reefs, along with best practise management of local pressures and the development of restoration approaches to help reefs resist and recover from the effects of climate change.
Learn more about AIMS' research addressing the impacts of climate change
Core project team
Jordan Ivey – Project Lead, AIMS
Darin Gaw – Project Manager, AIMS
Toby Wright – Training and Field Support Officer, AIMS
This training opportunity is supported by
The Australian Government through the Reef Trust Partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation
AIMS
Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program.
with science, design and training assistance provided by:
- Teams within RRAP
- AIMS science teams
- SCU
- Great Barrier Reef Traditional Owners
- Traditional Owner Advisory Group (TOAG)
- Crown-of-thorns starfish/Reef Restoration and Adaptation Science Traditional Owner Technical Working Group (COTS/RRAS TOTWG)
