Reef restoration and adaptation program

RRAP works with Traditional Owners, reef stakeholders and the general public to better understand how people see the risks and benefits of reef interventions and discuss why interventions are needed. This collaborative measure will help inform plans and priorities so that interventions meet community expectations.

QUT researchers are working on reef cooling and shading interventions to reduce heat stress in corals by reducing incoming solar radiation. This will be achieved by marine cloud brightening and fogging, a promising large-scale intervention.

QUT's specialist marine autonomous vehicles will help RRAP coral seed at-risk areas of reef, increasing its chances of survival.

This intervention aims to develop cost-efficient, large-scale production of genetically diverse and environmentally tolerant coral larvae that can be transferred and settled onto the reef to improve coral restoration, adaptation and recovery.

Natural and man-made disturbances can result in coral reefs being damaged and, in some cases, partly or fully reduced to fields of rubble. QUT researchers are working to improve overall coral cover and reef health through restoring these rubble fields so that coral recruitment can commence.

QUT researchers are leading the development of automation prospecting and progression, engineering support and logistics modelling to design systems, including autonomous marine vehicles and AI, that can deliver reef restoration interventions at varying scales.

QUT researchers are working to find ways to support coral restoration and reef adaptation with aquaculture bred corals. This will involve developing effective and reliable methods to mass-propagate juvenile and fragment corals, conserve existing populations on the Great Barrier Reef and overcome bottlenecks in coral propagation at scale.