Monitoring coral bleaching, advancing reef tech with AI and acoustic monitoring, and welcoming the pygmy blue whale season in the June edition of AIMS' Waypoint.
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June 2025 | View previous edition
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Welcome to Waypoint!
From mass coral bleaching to acoustic monitoring and mapping workshops with senior knowledge holders from the eastern Torres Strait, this edition covers the latest news and updates from Australia's tropical marine science agency.
News from AIMS
New portable coral restoration system successfully road tested in the Maldives
'ReefSeed', a portal, self-sufficient coral aquaculture system designed by AIMS has been successfully road tested in the Maldives by a team of local technicians and biologists.
Enhancing how we hear the health of coral reefs
Coral reefs are noisy places. AIMS scientists have been refining acoustic techniques to help reef monitoring.
Hungry little crabs may help control coral-eating starfish numbers
Small, hidden crabs may be the missing link influencing coral-eating crown-of-thorn starfish populations.
More information, faster, with new AI monitoring tool
We can now automatically process and classify data about large areas of the sea floor thanks to a transformative machine-learning method developed by AIMS.
Finding a forever home - new model shows multiple factors at play in coral settlement
A new model to help scientists understand the many influences on young corals finding a “forever home” on a reef has been developed, helping improve restoration actions that use larvae seeding.
Mass coral bleaching on Australia's east and west coasts 2025
Marine heatwaves caused mass coral bleaching events off Australia's north west and the Great Barrier Reef this year. The events are part of the ongoing 4th Global Bleaching Event which began in 2023.
AIMS scientists have worked with science and management collaborators to monitor the regions by air and underwater, recording the severity and extent of the events. Coral bleaching takes months to unfold, and it will be some time before the outcomes of the events are fully understood.
Western Australia
The heat stress in Western Australia arrived months before the anticipated peak which is typically March or April.
Coral bleaching has been confirmed across thousands of kilometres in Australia’s North West, from Ningaloo near Exmouth in the south, the Pilbara, inshore Kimberley, the Rowley Shoals and to Ashmore Reef in the far north.
Many reefs recorded their highest levels of heat stress and coral bleaching, although levels of bleaching among regions and reefs vary from moderate to extreme.
Great Barrier Reef
A marine heatwave caused the sixth mass coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef since 2016.
Aerial surveys of 281 reefs across the Torres Strait, the entire northern Great Barrier Reef and some reefs in the central region revealed widespread coral bleaching. Aerial surveys were not carried out over the Southern region, as levels of heat stress in this area were not high enough to cause concern.
A summary of the aerial survey results within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is published in the Reef Summer Snapshot 24/25.
Sharing knowledge for shared futures
We were delighted to welcome senior knowledge holders from the eastern Torres Strait communities of Ugar, Masig, Mer and Erub to our Townsville headquarters in June to align Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science on maps.
The senior Traditional Knowledge holders worked with AIMS scientists in the Indigenous Partnerships team to map areas of cultural and ecological significance, marine knowledge gaps and issues of priority to Traditional Owners, and suitable sites for future joint projects.
This combined knowledge will now underpin the design of marine research and monitoring for the Northern Australian Marine Monitoring Alliance, to better inform management and ensure sustainable and resilient futures.
The visitors also learned more about AIMS’ research on giant triton snails and crown-of-thorns starfish – a growing concern in the region.
Stay tuned to AIMS’ social media to learn more about the Northern Australian Marine Monitoring Alliance!
Images: Marie Roman
Dive into AIMS' stories
Our 'In Focus' magazine is now available online.
Get the tags ready - pygmy blue whale season is here!
We've been on the waters off Exmouth, satellite tagging pygmy blue whales during their northerly migration.
Despite their enormous size, pygmy blue whales' elusive nature makes them difficult to study. The data collected from all the whales tagged since 2019 is providing unparalleled insights into the migratory behaviours and distribution of this endangered species.
The first whale of the season was named 'Nyinggulu'.
This project involves teams from the Centre for Whale Research in WA and Curtin University's Centre for Marine Science and Technology, in partnership with Chevron Australia.
Images: Tiffany Klein, Micheline Jennern
Water quality science on show at Townsville HQ
We recently welcomed 50 farmers, scientists, managers and agriculture industry representatives to AIMS for the Burdekin Regional Water Quality Science Forum, organised by NQ Dry Tropics.
Attendees were updated on the Water Quality Improvement Plan and the Paddock to Reef Program, heard the latest 2023-24 results on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program from AIMS scientists and an update on the 2025 Burdekin flooding event.
Dr Renee Gruber showcased AIMS’ water quality research with a focus on identifying trends in long-term datasets, while Angus Thompson detailed how water quality, bleaching events, and storms influence the health and resilience of inshore coral reef communities on the Great Barrier Reef.
Attendees toured AIMS' coral core library and The National Sea Simulator (SeaSim) as part of the event.
Images: M. Romann
AIMS in the news
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