Museum of Underwater Art ‘Ocean Sentinels’ underwater exhibition at John Brewer Reef

PRESS RELEASE

The Museum of Underwater Art, Ocean Sentinel sculpture exhibition sits on the northern tip of John Brewer Reef, 35nm from Townsville. The site welcomes Superyachts and is perfect for snorkeling on a healthy reef and fish aggregation site at John Brewer Reef.

The site is in a no anchor zone, and MOUA provides two mooring systems for yachts, one fore and aft mooring, is provided for vessels more than 24mtres.

The eight Ocean Sentinel sculptures by internationally renowned and leading underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, form a snorkel trail for visitors. The trail connects with MOUA' s ‘Coral Greenhouse’, a magnificent dive, and largest underwater art installation in the world. The snorkel trail highlight’s reef conservation, marine science and education within the Great Barrier Reef. Visit MOUA.

The Ocean Sentinel sculptures are modeled from notable local and international marine scientists, conservationists, and traditional owners, who have contributed and dedicated their life to the Great Barrier Reef to reflect them as being protectors of the Reef.

Each sculpture is standing 2.2 meters tall and are in around 5 metres of water. Each sculpture weighs in at 2.8 tonne, and is crafted from a new high grade, low carbon earth friendly concrete and reinforced marine stainless steel. The installation process was handled by local Townsville business, Pacific Marine Group, local engineers and contractors.

Chair of the MOUA Board, Paul Victory, says;

“We are thrilled to offer the MOUA site to the Superyacht sector. We are a not-for-profit company who have invested some $4m on establishing the site for visitors to create reef conversations about ocean protection and marine science. The Coral Greenhouse and Ocean Sentinel site is already on Queensland’s must do list, and is a growing international must see for Australia. The site adds to visitor knowledge of the science that has contributed to the incredible Great Barrier Reef. We encourage you to record your experience using citizen science and social sites to show others your experience”

Deputy Chair of MOUA and Reef Ecologic CEO, renown marine scientist, Dr Adam Smith said;

“MOUA’s exhibition is attracting global citizen science interest and MOUA is the new leader in reef citizen science recording the highest number of marine species observations for an individual reef or island in Queensland for an iNaturalist project. MOUA has currently reported over 8,100 observations of 622 species on the site. The most commonly observed species was the Sixband Parrotfish Scarus frenatus.”

The Museum of Underwater Art and Reef Ecologic share in the rising interest in community citizen science through collaborating on recent ReefBlitz and World Oceans Day events in Townsville. The activities led by MOUA’s science team, Dr David Vaughan of the US based, Plant a Million Corals Foundation, Distinguished Professor Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University, Dr Katharina Fabricius from AIMS and Dr Adam Smith, the CEO of Reef Ecologic. MOUA is forming new partnerships with business to help support its activities, along with local diving and charter businesses.

Bookings are required to pick up moorings on the site, and a mooring fee and small donation is required to visit the site, to assist MOUA’s research and maintenance programs. The Reef Ecologic and MOUA teams also provide specialist marine science guided experiences, training, equipment and educational material such as field guides, videos, reports and scientific papers. For enquiries and to make bookings for the moorings, please contact MOUA’s marine science and executive team,  Jacinta and Alec on office@moua.com.au

MOUA was created to inspire people throughout the world to visit the Townsville’s underwater sculpture site and to broaden the conversation about reef conservation. The works bring into focus diverse fields of study including traditional owner practices in marine parks, marine science, coral gardening, underwater and environmental art, educational tourism and architecture. It provides a starting point and new perspective for an understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and its ecology. MOUA is the only underwater art museum in the Southern Hemisphere.

Please contact us for links to MOUA stock vision.

Contact us:

For more information email; office@moua.com.au 

Paul Victory (MOUA Ltd Chairman) m 0408157154

Dr Adam Smith (Deputy Chair) m 0418726584