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Education and research

Engaging the community and key stakeholders and providing education is the best way to protect cetaceans now and into the future. 

In 2023, the first pre-whale season event brought together tourism operators, with a focus on skippers, to engage with them about their added responsibilities during whale season. There were presentations from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority about the distance guidelines, Eye on the Reef sightings reporting, and more. The event was very successful and is planned to be expanded in the future to engage more of the community.  

Being in regional Queensland without a direct university connection means most of the data collected in the region comes from national parks and citizen scientists. Engaging the community to input their sightings of cetaceans into Eye on the Reef has large implications for a better understanding of what is going on in the marine environment that surrounds us.