Project purpose: enhance and protect the coral reef biodiversity and habitat in the Ningaloo Region through a communication & awareness raising program and the establishment of a sustainable long-term community coral reef monitoring program that will not only provide a vital baseline from which future studies will be based but will also act as an early warning system to the deterioration of ecosystem health. The program aims to build community capacity to contribute significantly to sustainable natural resource management through their participation in coral reef monitoring. Under the umbrella of the Department of Conservation & Land Management's Marine Community Monitoring Program, information collected will contribute to local datasets which will enhance effective sustainable management of these resources and ultimately contribute to improving their condition. By adopting the Reef Check methodology there is scope to magnify the success of both programs to provide high quality reef health information to the community, global coral reef health reporting initiatives, reef research partners, marine tourism industry sponsors and reef resource management authorities. The awareness raising component aims to provide the means of communication through which information can be passed from the scientific community to the local and tourism communities and to equip the local community with an understanding of the worth of their involvement.
