While most Australians care about protecting the Great Barrier Reef, in a survey conducted by reseachers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) recommends that more education is needed to understand the complexity of the ecology of the reef and the threats to its future health.
The results of the survey revealed that while Australians care deeply about the Great Barrier Reef, 13% of respondents couldn’t correctly identify its location. Most participants recognized Queensland as the home of the GBR and identified broad groups of species such as fish, reptiles, and corals. However, they showed limited knowledge of specific species. The survey also highlighted the GBR’s environmental importance and identified several human-caused threats, including runoff, pollution, climate change, and coral bleaching. The researchers conclude that there is a need for targeted public awareness campaigns to address knowledge gaps and recommended expanding the study to include a larger, more representative sample of the Australian population.
The survey’s key findings were:
- Most participants (86.72%) correctly named Queensland as the home of the Great Barrier Reef, but a small number (13%) were either unaware of the location or named the wrong State.
- Participants commonly identified broad groups such as fish (37%), reptiles (12%) and corals (12%) occupying the GBR, and specific species like clownfish (3.9%), sea turtles and sharks (10%) were mentioned, but participants revealed limited knowledge of species at a more niche level.
- The GBR’s environmental importance was recognised, with 48% of survey respondents citing it as a crucial habitat for various species, 27% naming it as a natural wonder of the world, 44% mentioning it as a major tourism drawcard, and 9% aware of its importance to the Australian economy.
- Participants identified several threats, mostly caused by humans, including runoff, pollution and plastics (36%), climate change (33%), warming oceans (24%) and coral bleaching (34%). Of the 18 threats reported by participants, only three were naturogenic (crown-of-thorns starfish, natural disasters and sea urchins).
Read more: News 19 May 2025 published on the unisa website. https://unisa.edu.au/media-centre/Releases/2025/its-a-national-treasure-but-13-of-australians-surveyed-cant-tell-you-where-the-great-barrier-reef-is-located
Click here to read the full report “Australians’ perceptions of species diversity of, and threats to, the Great Barrier Reef” authored by Jarrah Taylor, Carla Litchfield and Brianna Le Busque DOI: 10.1071/MF24109
