Hi - I’m Rick, WWF-Australia’s Tropical Marine and Coastal Policy Manager and I’ve just returned from the Coral Sea on board the Undersea Explorer - a research/tourism vessel. Part of WWF’s work to push for more protection for the Coral Sea is to raise the profile of this spectacular area, and that’s what this trip was all about.

Going out to sea for 4 days with a bunch of media people and a couple of WWF’s celebrity ambassadors might not sound like hard work, but with 2-3 metre swells and 25 knot winds it wasn’t too easy either! Fortunately everyone one board loved the trip and once we were in the water checking out the Coral Sea’s awesome marine wonders any thoughts of sea-sicknesses soon disappeared.

A major highlight of the trip was when marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick retrieved a data logger that had been placed on a grey reef shark 6 months previously. This is a world first and we are keenly waiting to hear what insights into these amazing animals these data will provide.

I think we all returned to shore with a greater appreciation of the uniqueness of the Coral Sea and the realisation that we need to protect the wonderful area before it suffers a similar fate to other tropical marine regions. Please keep coming back to the blog to hear how the campaign is going and hear some more tales from WWF’s Coral Sea expedition.

Rick @ WWF