MAY 2026
Monthly Reef Update
Across the Great Southern Reef, people are teaching, restoring, monitoring, filming, sharing stories and finding new ways to connect communities with the marine life on their doorstep. This month’s update brings some of that work to you, with stories of learning, recovery and care from across Australia’s southern coastline.
Next Monday, May 18, we’re also holding our first GSR Friends online meeting at 1 pm AEST. This private session is for monthly supporters and is a chance to hear directly from the GSRF team about current projects, what’s ahead, and how your support helps this work grow.
New white paper puts ocean literacy on the national agenda
Last month, we looked at Australia’s new National Marine Science Strategy 2026–36. The Strategy was informed by a series of national white papers exploring the challenges, opportunities and enablers needed for Australia’s marine science future.
Most importantly, the paper makes clear that ocean literacy is not simply about sharing more information. It is about building connection, trust, stewardship and the ability to take part in decisions about the ocean. For the Great Southern Reef, the pathway ahead depends on stronger links between science, education, Sea Country knowledge, local communities and the decisions shaping our temperate ecosystems.
One of those papers, focused on ocean literacy, has now been published. The paper calls for stronger marine education, better teacher support, clearer career pathways, trusted science communication, and a coordinated National Ocean Literacy Strategy. It also highlights the need for place-based and culturally relevant approaches that connect people with local marine environments.
White Rock Primary Resources
Building on that national call for stronger ocean literacy, we’re pleased to share that our new White Rock Primary Resources are now available through the GSRF Educator Hub.
Created to accompany the White Rock documentary, these resources help primary students explore kelp forests, climate change, Sea Country, food webs and the longspined urchin issue through locally grounded activities. Teachers can use the resources as a single lesson, a short sequence, or a full classroom unit.
The new primary suite includes teacher notes, a student course, printable workbook activities and junior primary resources for Foundation to Year 2. Secondary resources are also available for Years 7 to 10, with the film now available to schools across Australia via ClickView.
New investment backs Sea Country-led urchin solution
A major step forward for sea urchin management has been announced in New South Wales, with $1.48 million awarded to Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation to scale processing, create new urchin products, and turn waste into agricultural inputs.
This investment directly targets one of the biggest constraints facing the industry, processing capacity, and supports an Aboriginal-led model that links reef restoration, jobs, and Sea Country stewardship.
For a closer look at the challenge and the people working to address it, keep an eye out for the upcoming feature featuring footage from the GSRF on Landline airing Sunday 17 May.
Longspined urchin is in peak conditioN
Sea Urchin Carbonara recipe by Sea Urchin HarvestLongspined sea urchin is now in peak condition across south-eastern Australia, making this a great time to try one of Australia’s most under-rated sustainable seafoods.
Our Eat an Urchin page helps you find suppliers near you, learn how to source urchin responsibly, and try simple recipes from chefs helping turn the urchin challenge into a practical way to support reef recovery.
Meanwhile divers this week at Marion Bay in Tasmania have come across large numbers of juvenile longspined urchins, indicating another successful recruitment event.
Tracking recovery and resilience in South Australia
As South Australia’s reefs continue to respond to the harmful algal bloom impacts, new monitoring and community projects are helping build a clearer picture of what has changed, what is returning, and where future restoration may be possible.
In the Upper Spencer Gulf, attention is turning to the Giant Australian Cuttlefish aggregation, which usually begins toward the end of May. After the pressures placed on the region over the past year, we’ll be watching closely and sharing updates as the season takes shape.
Giant Cuttlefish usually begin their aggregation at Pt. Lowly around the end of May.Further south, settlement plates led by Adelaide University & GSR Research Partnership marine ecologist Dr Dominic McAfee and PhD candidate Nichole Lindsey are beginning to show early signs of reef life recruiting across bloom-affected coastlines. Native oysters have been recorded at all retrieved sites so far, with strong early numbers at several locations. The plates are also recording scallops, cockles, mussels, fish eggs and other marine life.
Early results show native oysters recruiting at all retrieved sites so far, with standout numbers at Black Point, Port Victoria, Point Pearce and Kingscote.A new Green Adelaide Rocky Reef Program reportalso brings together more than 18 years of biodiversity data from over 40 monitoring sites, creating an important pre-bloom baseline for understanding future ecological change and recovery across parts of South Australia’s reef systems.
This winter, the GSRF’s Reef Resilience photo and art exhibition will also head to Ardrossan, with a newYorke Peninsula school art competition inviting local students to share what the coast and reef mean to them.
Three Kelp Genetics Projects Put the Great Southern Reef on the Global Stage
A philanthropy-backed global climate fund is now investing directly in kelp resilience. The Revive & Restore Climate Resilience Fund is a multi-million dollar initiative backing ambitious high-impact projects that use biotechnology to help marine ecosystems adapt to climate change, including genetic rescue, biobanking and gene editing.
Notably, 3 of the 10 funded projects are focused on Australia’s Great Southern Reef:
Algal genetic engineering to identify and apply heat-tolerance traits in golden kelp
Assisted gene flow to rebuild genetic diversity in Tasmania’s collapsing giant kelp forests
Protoplast culture and gene banking to safeguard and future-proof fucoid seaweeds
This funding signals that temperate reefs are now part of the global climate response, with new work testing how we might actively support kelp forests under pressure.
Kelp restoration hits the public spotlight
Prue Francis with the Gardening Australia film crew. Kelp restoration is reaching new audiences this month, with public stories highlighting the people, science and community action helping bring underwater forests back across the Great Southern Reef.
In Victoria, Deakin Marine’s Port Phillip Bay kelp work will feature on ABC’s Gardening Australia, with the team sharing how “underwater kelp gardening” works, from collecting fertile kelp tissue to growing young kelp for restoration trials. Tune in to ABC Gardening Australia on Friday 15th May at 7.30pm.
Deakin’s wider reef restoration work has also been featured in The Guardian, with a look inside the marine “living library” at Queenscliff Marine Science Centre. The biobank stores and maintains at-risk species and life stages, including golden kelp, native flat oysters and seagrass, to support future restoration and research.
In New South Wales, Operation Crayweed and the Kelp Forest Alliance are also helping more people see Sydney’s restored underwater forests. Through the Forests Without Names campaign, local communities were invited to help name the kelp forest off South Coogee, strengthening public connection to a restored reef that many people swim over without knowing it is there.
That same focus on public connection is also at the heart of Sea Kin, a new art-meets-science exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Developed through Project Restore and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, the exhibition explores relationships between people and marine life through workshops, public art and community collaboration.
These stories are fantastic examples of how kelp is moving from labs and dive teams into mainstream conversation, helping more Australians recognise the Great Southern Reef as a living system worth knowing and caring for.
Training the Next Reef Scientists
The 11th annual Practical Introduction to Temperate Marine Biology course has wrapped up on Maria Island, giving 24 selected Year 11 and 12 students from across Australia a hands-on week of marine science with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania.
Across the week, students surveyed fish assemblages, intertidal communities, zooplankton and sediment infauna, building real field skills while contributing to an 11-year biodiversity dataset from Maria Island.
This year’s group surveyed 6,015 m² of reef, 10 litres of sediment and 18,000 litres of seawater over four days, recording an impressive 63,699 individual animals across 176 taxa. The next course will be held in April 2027 and is open to any Year 11 or 12 student from across Australia interested in studying marine biology.
Tracking reef life across Port Phillip Bay
Parks Victoria has wrapped up its latest Reef Life Survey field season, with teams surveying 16 sites across Port Phillip Bay between January and May. Most surveys took place in Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park, with additional sites at Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary. Many of these reefs have been surveyed regularly since 1998, creating a long-term record of changes in fish, invertebrates and seaweeds.
The season also included Reef Life Survey training with Toni Cooper, adding five newly trained divers to the Parks Victoria team. Field highlights included lush kelp beds at Point Lonsdale, large greenlip abalone inside the parks, and a Bunarun dolphin encounter at Ricketts Point.
The latest survey results will now be analysed and reported through Parks Victoria’s technical reporting program, adding to more than two decades of reef monitoring across this part of the Great Southern Reef.
What Victoria’s new report means for the Great Southern Reef
Victoria’s 2024 State of the Marine and Coastal Environment report gives a broad picture of how the Great Southern Reef is changing across the state. It brings together long-term data on coasts, estuaries and reefs, with clear signals around climate pressure, coastal growth, habitat repair and community involvement. One of the strongest themes is that people are now a bigger part of the monitoring and management story. Coastal volunteering, Coastcare participation and citizen science are all growing, helping add observations that can support long-term datasets and give managers better information for future reef protection and restoration.
The report also points to both progress and warning signs. Seagrass recovery and shellfish reef restoration show that habitat repair can deliver measurable gains when it is sustained over time, while long-standing marine protected areas are reported to support stronger fish and invertebrate communities than nearby reference sites.
At the same time, kelp decline, climate-linked species shifts and increasing urchin pressure show that protection alone will not keep pace with changing conditions. Deeper, cooler reefs may provide potential refuges for some kelp species, including golden kelp and crayweed, under stronger climate pressure. Taken together, the report shows a reef system under pressure, but also one where monitoring, restoration, protection and coordinated management can still shape what happens next.
New Picture Book: In the Kelp Forest
A beautiful new picture book brings kelp forests, Sea Country and First Nations knowledge into focus for young readers. In the Kelp Forest, published by Magabala Books, celebrates the life of Myerlee, the giant kelp, and the creatures that shelter within these underwater forests.
Written by Aunty Patsy Cameron and Reena Balding, and illustrated by Belinda Casey, the book shares the beauty and strength of Country beneath the waves, with deep connections to Tasmania’s First Nations people.
It’s a lovely addition for families, teachers and young ocean lovers wanting to build connection with kelp forests and the Great Southern Reef.
Great southern reef news corner
Recent Great Southern Reef Mentions
‘Living library’: inside the marine biobanks racing to protect ocean species from extinction (The Guardian)
The underwater forests coming back to life off the Sydney coast (The Age)
Signs of karenia still present on Yorke Peninsula but oysters showing algal bloom resistance (ABC)
Algal bloom 'uncertainty' persists despite reducing levels of karenia at coastal SA tourist town (ABC)
Invasive long-spined sea urchin found on Tasmania's west coast sparks fears for marine habitat (ABC)
Tasmanian scientists revolutionise search for vital compounds hidden in seaweed (The Mercury)
What can be done about the invasive sea urchin problem in Tasmania? (ABC)
Federal government criticised for response into spread of sea urchins (ABC)
GSR Reseasrch PARTNERS FETURED THIS MONTH
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