Hi – I’m Lydia, WWF Australia’s Tropical Marine and Coastal Policy Manager and I am so excited to be part of WWF’s campaign to Save the Coral Sea.

I just spent the last few days in Port Douglas meeting with the some wonderful scientists from James Cook University to learn more about the beautiful Dwarf MinkeWhale. These magnificent creatures are a regular visitor of the Northern Great Barrier Reef between June and July and are known to inhabit the Coral Sea. It was fascinating to learn about these research that James Cook University are doing in collaboration Museum of tropical Queensland and Undersea Explorer – apparently the whales have been shown to exhibit a behavior called pirouetting where they spin vertically in water like a ballerina - amazing!

During my time in Cairns I could not resist a trip out to the Great Barrier reef to – it was an truly mind blowing experience the diversity of life was phenomenal such a hub of activity with parrot fish grazing the reefs, the odd damsel fish having a tiff with one of his/her friend and ofcourse those beautiful clownfish hiding in wave of sea anemone tentacles! I was even lucky enough to spot a white–tip reef shark. As I dived amongst this wonderful diversity I could help thinking about the Coral Sea and how the marine life is in some ways so similar to the barrier reef and yet also quite different - with many fish and coral species found only in the Coral Sea and ofcourse you would be more likely to come across sharks too! I really hit home just how important it is that we do our best to protect the Coral Sea as we do with the Great Barrier Reef so that it too can be enjoyed by future generations to come.