Sea Women Great Barrier Reef 2025 - Goolboddi Program

The Coral Sea Foundation delivered its fifth Sea Women Great Barrier Reef training program in May 2025. The program was based at the JCU Goolboddi (Orpheus) Island Research Station and ran over 12 days on Manbarra sea-country surrounding the Palm Islands and adjacent mid-shelf platform reefs. The group of 10 female participants included senior ranger mentors from the MinggaMingga, Girringun and Mamu ranger groups along the North Queensland coast, up and coming trainee rangers from each of these groups, and Coral Sea Foundation marine science staff.

The aim of this program was to unite Indigenous female rangers, develop their leadership capability, and enhance their marine science and conservation skills so they can more effectively contribute to monitoring and protecting sea country. Participants developed skills in snorkelling, underwater photographic surveys, small vessel operation, GPS navigation, and maritime expedition coordination. Reefs surveys were undertaken at a number of different locations on both inshore and mid-shelf reefs, while underwater manta ray sightings added new individuals to the global manta database.

Equally important was the opportunity for the women to forge new friendships, network together, and share traditional knowledge and their contemporary experiences as sea country rangers. The experience and learnings from this expedition will help us continue to develop the Sea Women GBR program and we are already planning the next round of activities scheduled for later this year.

We respectfully acknowledge MinggaMingga Ranger Coordinator Natalie Friday for delivering an Acknowledgment of Country and for generously sharing her knowledge of the traditional and ongoing cultural connections to the Palm Islands held by both the Manbarra and Bwgcolman peoples.

We also wish to thank our supporting partners in the Sea Women GBR program: The Wright Burt Foundation, Sarah & Sebastian, Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, QLD Government's Gambling Community Benefit Fund, The Funding Network, The Jock Clough Marine Foundation, Daughters of the Deep, Big Blue Ocean, and Queensland Women.

Video production by Kaspa Blewett and SnorkelDownUnder.

For more info and support options please see:
https://www.seawomen.net/what-we-do/gbr/

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