A research project led by AIMS which explores how fish and sound may benefit coral reef recovery has completed in-field experiments at east and west coast coral reefs.
Researchers working on the Reef Song project are continuing to analyse data and publish their work in scientific journals.
The team were in Coral Bay, Western Australia, recently to collect final data from the 60 patch reefs built at Ningaloo Reef by AIMS scientists in 2021, and share initial findings from the project with the local community. The scientists also decommissioned another 60 experimental reefs at Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef late in 2025.
Harnessing the relationships between fish and corals
Dr Rohan Brooker, an AIMS fish ecologist who leads Reef Song, said the project is helping scientists better understand all the connections between fish and corals, and how those relationships might be harnessed to help coral reef recovery.
"We know that fish and corals benefit each other. Corals can provide food and shelter for the many colourful fish species we see on coral reefs, while there is growing evidence fish provide cleaning services, nutrient cycling and increased water flow for corals, and they may even chase away coral predators," he said.
"We've also been able to observe and collect data about the relationships between corals and fish at times of heat stress - both at Lizard Island during the 2024 mass bleaching event, and at Ningaloo last year.
"Extensive datasets on coral growth and the factors influencing whether fish grow into adulthood, a process which is known as fish recruitment, have been produced as a result of the project. We've also pioneered acoustic monitoring methods and we've collected more than 1.3 million images that will help us build 3D models of reef structure and coral growth over the years.
"The results from this work are giving us hope."
The Reef Song project has also been about global collaborations and training the next generation of marine scientists.
"Running two multi-year field programs on both coasts has required a huge collaborative effort both within and external to AIMS," Dr Brooker added.
"We've worked with researchers from many institutions around the world all looking at the broad theme of how fish can help corals - we think this is the biggest coordinated research effort on this topic ever and we are aiming to produce more than 60 peer reviewed papers from this effort."
"We've trained 17 higher degree research students, including 10 PhDs, hopefully kick-starting promising careers for these talented young researchers in marine science."
Reef Song is part of the Australian Coral Reef Resilience Initiative, jointly funded by AIMS and BHP.
