大象传媒

A flotilla of tourist boats, fishing vessels and yachts is heading to the Great Barrier Reef to spend the next three months making a large scale survey of the state of its coral. It's hoped the information can help scientists work out how best it can be saved from the ravages of climate change.

The survey will also be supported by land-based volunteers studying the photos taken.

The man leading the project is Professor Peter Mumby from the University of Queensland.

"One of the challenges of dealing with the Great Barrier Reef is, as its name suggests, it's enormous. It's about the size of Italy. Scientists can only monitor the health of a small fraction of it and so if we want to get larger scale information we have to appeal to the wider citizenry to help us with that."

(Photo: Diver photographs the reef below a leisure boat. Credit: Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef)