It
is hard to remain ignorant of the importance of the Great
Barrier Reef (GBR) when one learns about the measures that
must be taken to successfully manage its resources. The
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has been
charged with the management of the world's largest coral
reef system. Because the Park is multi-use, commercial,
public, and private interests are considered and therefore
complicate its supervision.
One major
issue is how to manage the daily anchoring of the thousands
of boats that visit the reef each year. To avoid the destruction
of the reef by these anchorings, GBRMPA has established
a system of marker buoys. Our group volunteered to help
by replacing several "No Anchorage" marker buoys
at Maureen's Cove on Hook Island. These buoys indicate the
margins of the reef and therefore where it is safe to anchor
without destroying the reef below.
The first
thing we learned was how to splice rope. Splicing rope involves
a strange mix of weaving and braiding the separate strands
of rope together -- after an hour-long workshop, most of
us still didn't master the trick. Those that did were assigned
the task of attaching something called a thimble to either
end of a 25 meter length of rope. It was definitely the
most difficult of the various activities that day. The rest
of the jobs required little more than mastery of a wrench.
Of course, fitting four 2 foot by 2 foot buoys into the
back seat of a Corolla was an interesting lesson in geometry.
The following
day we set out for Hook Island on a zodiac. It was a wet,
windy and bumpy ride; it was a blast! Just don't forget
to hold on tight so you don't fall overboard. |
