Thousands rally together with Fight For The Reef

If you love the sea and all things marine, Fight For The Reef will be a cause after your own heart.

In partnership with WWF Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Fight For The Reef is a campaign created to protect the majesty of the Great Barrier Reef.

The reef is at risk of being severely damaged by industrial developments - such as the creation of a mega-port, which requires the dumping of millions of tonnes of seabed and rock, and the introduction of the biggest coal port at Abbot Point.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system. It is also wonderfully ancient - about 20 million years old - and thriving. At about the same size of Germany, it can be seen from outer space. It's also home to an enormous about of life, including 10 per cent of all of the fish in the world.

Although the reef is one of the world's most beautiful natural wonders, it's also the most fragile. The main aim of Fight For The Reef is to raise awareness about what is happening to prevent destruction and the continuation of projects that could do a lot of harm. The campaign is open to the possibility of development on and around the reef, just as long as that development is sustainable and not invasive.

Last year the campaign had many achievements. All kinds of people, from all kinds of backgrounds, rallied for the reef. The campaign got 81,000 signatures to take to the world heritage committee in Cambodia. They teamed up with 150 scientists who had their say about the destructive industrial development in a signed statements. There were also millions of people who tweeted about the project, 4,500 people asked political candidates to sign pledges to protect the reef, and over a thousand people called the environment ministers office to get his attention.

As a result, the Australian government was put on notice for their treatment of the reef.

One particularly personal project was the creation of a simple booklet that was taken to Parliament. The people at Fight For The Reef worked with PrintTogether to print the booklet on environmentally friendly EcoStar, a 100 per cent recycled paper, and shared the stories of 800 people and their connection to the reef.