Tracey Solomon: [00:00:00]
If there's no reef, there's nothing for us.
Tracey Solomon: [00:00:06]
We're here in Bowen on Giru Country and this is our totem. The turtle is a gangoo and the snake our Gubulla Munda. We're Land and Sea Rangers. We go out doing turtle tagging. We measure them and then we lift them up and we weigh them. We sit there, we talk to it, we pat it and we wipe it down, wipe its eyes. We check for any fibropapilloma, it's a disease, and then we write it all down, put it on the computer and then we send it up to JCU (James Cook University).
Tracey Solomon: [00:00:45]
It's so important to me to learn about what I do on country so then I can go back and I can tell my family and my grandkids. And then when they get older I would rather them come in and do something too. We also work with field management rangers up and down the coast.
Nicole Hitchcock: [00:01:18]
I grew up learning about marine biology and doing boating and diving and I wanted to work in that kind of environment and help protect what we've got out there. In marine parks we look after wildlife in I guess a holistic way. We're looking after the habitat of a lot of animals. We're looking after the marine park, the reef, the islands and we're trying to ensure that there's good habitat for those animals to be surviving.
Nicole Hitchcock: [00:01:40]
On a typical day in the field, we might jump in the water and do some reef health impact surveys. We monitor things like coral bleaching, coral disease and crown-of-thorn starfish, marine animal strandings so when turtles or mammals wash up on the beaches.
Nicole Hitchcock: [00:02:29]
I feel very privileged to be able to be contributing to the conservation of such an amazing place, especially one that showcases a lot of natural beauty, natural values of the Great Barrier Reef and the islands.
