Send us Fan Mail The whale was bellowing out for help - so Brenton Owens weighed up the risks, and acted. A few days later, he received an infringement notice. In 2024, diver and environmental scientist Brenton Owens and a group of neighbours paddle-boarded out to rescue a humpback whale entangled in a shark net, risking legal action and fines of more than $30,000. Moved by that experience, he recently kayaked more than 1,300 kilometres from the Gold Coast to Airlie Beach to document the impa...

Send us Fan Mail Tyá Dynevor has always felt a special connection with animals, which has led her to becoming an ethnozoologist - someone who studies the relationship between humans and animals. It's something Traditional Owners have known about for millennia. We sat down with Tyá for a powerful discussion about how Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science can work together to keep Country and people healthy. We dig into reciprocity with nature, the spiritual side of Ind...

Send us Fan Mail Now available in video format on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! In this episode we sit down with Australian diving legend Ben Cropp AM to trace a life that swings from shark hunting fame to conservation, shipwreck discovery, and hard-won lessons from 70 years of diving on the Great Barrier Reef. He tells us what it really takes to stay alive underwater, think like a skipper, and keep chasing purpose into one's 90s. Along the way we'll learn about the whale shark encounter that c...

Send us Fan Mail A group of Magnetic Island residents believes the annual dumping of maintenance dredge spoil by the Port of Townsville may be creating sediment plumes that smother some of the island's pristine bays, coral reefs, and marine life. And with the port now applying for a 10-year permit to continue the dumping at its current site, they're calling for community members to have their say. In this episode of Word on the Reef, we're joined by one of those residents, Gethin Morgan...

Send us Fan Mail Twenty years ago, the Belize Barrier Reef was in serious trouble, and nobody could quite figure out why. Then Professor Pete Mumby helped uncover the surprising role of an unlikely reef hero: the parrotfish. Today, we’re diving into the incredible world of these colourful fish and discovering how they can help protect coral reefs. PLUS… if you only have limited time, people and resources to protect some of the Great Barrier Reef’s 3,000 individual reefs, which ones would you ...