Witness King Tides

Article in The Morning Bulletin

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ELEVEN-year-old Ari Miles's keen photography skills saw him take home first prize at the Witness King Tides project yesterday.

The Yeppoon State School student went along to the family event at Yeppoon's Main Beach, which was organised to help improve understanding of climate change impacts.

People were encouraged to get involved by taking photos of yesterday's king tide, which reached 4.5m about 8.45am, to help gather evidence of the largest tide of the year.

Central Queensland's leading group dedicated to the protection of natural assets, the Fitzroy Basin Association, teamed up with Green Cross Australia to host the event, which will help in planning for, and mitigating, climate change impacts.

Ari - who won the Under 16s category - along with his brother Oliver and dad Clint went to a spot of theirs at Barlow's Creek to see how high the water would reach.

"We thought we'd go somewhere different where the water wouldn't usually go, and it was just ocean," Clint said.

Ari, using the camera he got for Christmas, said he enjoyed taking photos of the king tide.

The categories included Under 16s, Greatest Impact, Best Effort and Marine Debris Collection.

Fitzroy Basin Association coastal and marine co-ordinator Shannon van Nunen said the day was extremely successful and would hopefully become an annual event for the Capricorn Coast.

"There were 57 entrants on the day and it was the first time it's been co-ordinated for the Cap Coast," Mr van Nunen said.

"Next year's high tide will be even larger, around a foot higher, but the event wouldn't have been possible without the support of many community organisations who share this common goal."

FBA chief operating officer Paul Birch said photos would be compiled with others across Queensland to help plan for what our coastline could look like by the end of the century if sea level rises occur.