Thursday, August 24, 2023

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Local Students Join Reef Ambassador Program

Reef Catchments Youth Ambassador Program allows local students with a passion for conservation a chance to design and deliver their own projects.

These projects provide the ambassadors with experience in project management and leadership while increasing awareness around common threats to islands in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA).

The program also allows the students to engage and empower our local community to make a difference.

Since its beginning in 2018, students from around the region have created and designed their own projects relating to the conservation of our marine and coastal environments.

Projects have included the production of educational biosecurity videos, creation of community surveys and hands-on projects to assist coral reef restoration.

Now in its fifth and final year, the Youth Ambassadors from Proserpine State High School are working on a sea turtle conservation project in the Whitsunday area.

The project will centre around the protection of turtle habitat, with the details of the project still in the design phase.

The ambassadors also hope to produce a community awareness video based on the threats faced by sea turtles and what the community can do to help.

Indus Fisher, a Youth Ambassador from 2020-2021 alumni says the program was a fantastic experience that has given him skills that he will use for life.

“I have always had a passion for conservation but found it difficult to find opportunities to further my knowledge and skills,” he said.

“The Youth Ambassador Program helped me to achieve this and I’m now using the experience I gained to help me in my Marine Science degree at JCU.

“It was great to meet the current ambassadors and see how passionate they are about their project, and to be able to show them how following the program can lead to plenty of avenues to pursue conservation as a career choice.”

For more information on the Youth Ambassador Program, visit www.reefcatchments.com.au or watch past youth ambassador videos on Reef catchment’s Youtube channel.

Indus Fisher, a Youth Ambassador from Proserpine State High School. Photo supplied

In other news