The Fantasea Foundation
Fantasea is a part of the leading Australian marine transport group Riverside Marine. Founded in 1926, Riverside is a Brisbane based company owned by the Campbell family.
Each year, the Fantasea Foundation allocates over $100,000 for monitoring and management of its own activities on the reef.
Fantasea also manaFantasea also manages research vessels and monitors the marine park for the
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
Emily Smart is the marine research co-ordinator for the Fantasea Foundation. As
the marine research co-coordinator she gets to fulfil her passion of working
closely with marine life and she researches and monitors Crown-of-Thorns
Starfish, coral bleaching, reef health, and species diversity. Emily also enjoys
taking people on guided snorkel tours as a reef interpreter, giving marine
biology presentations and giving educated talks on semi-submersible rides.
Emily is fully qualified with a Bachelor of Science (Biology & Geography)
degree, including Honours (Marine Ecology) from Wollongong University, as well
as a postgraduate Certificate of Science (Marine Biology and Ecotourism/Wildlife
Tourism Management) from James Cook University. Emily has a love for the marine
world, particularly coral reefs. Before joining the Fantasea Foundation she
previously spent 18 months in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, on a voluntary marine
research and conservation expedition.
Emily was recently
selected to attend The Climate Project in Melbourne, where Al Gore trained
around 170 people to become climate messengers.