Nine years after the Chinese-owned coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on the Douglas Shoal, efforts to restore the reef are about to begin.

The ship grounding was the most significant to have impacted the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and according The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority [GBRMPA] it is likely the largest grounding in the world.

"It's heartbreaking really … it's proven that it doesn't just clean itself up," Gooreng Gooreng traditional owner Jacob Bulow said.

The grounding was caused by negligent navigation of the vessel, and over 10 days the ship damaged more than 40 hectares of the World Heritage-Listed site.

A diver inspects the damage from the grounding, which sees coral left as rubble. ( Supplied: GBRMPA )

But lying 100 kilometres off the Rockhampton coastline, traditional owners say the damage has been out of sight and mind for the general public.

Now, Gidarjil Development Corporation sea rangers hope the start of the remediation project next month will boost awareness of the damage to the reef.

Sea country manager Brent McLellan said it had been a long journey to get to this stage.

"It took seven years to get through the court system, which is so long when that's sitting on the bottom of the reef," he said.

"Now that it will be getting back in the media with the restoration project underway, it will not only help the community to think about how they're treating the reef but will make sure these massive companies are doing the right thing by the Australian reef."

How do you clean up a reef?

GBRMPA acting director of Reef Intervention, Leigh Gray, said although it took years to settle the legal claim in regards to the ship grounding, the authority did receive $35 million from that process.

In response to whether that money would cover the total restoration project, Mr Gray said areas would be prioritised.

Next month will be the first time the extent of the damage is quantified, including the impact toxic paint from the vessel has had on marine life.

"There are three major impacts that require remediation at Douglas Shoal," Mr Gray said.

"The first one is around contamination from the anti-fouling paint scraping off the hull, rubble generation by the ship itself moving across the shoal, and also compaction where the ship has sat and squashed the sediment down, so animals can't live in it.

"[One of the issues is] contamination through anti-fouling paint, it has a thing called tributyltin, copper or zinc that's in there, and sometimes it's even a pesticide and that can be toxic to some of those organisms," Mr Gray said.

Gidarjil Development Corporation land and sea ranger Jacob Bulow prepares to join the reef remediation project at Douglas Shoal. ( ABC Wide Bay: Sarah Jane Bell )

Combining science with traditional knowledge

Gidarjil Development Corporation sea ranger and traditional owner Jacob Bulow will join the remediation alongside university researchers and scientists.

"I think it's going to be shock to the system, it's 3 kilometres of reef where it's torn out, so I'm not really prepared but I'm not going to let that stop me," he said.

"It will feel good [to be contributing], I still think we could be doing more and I would like to put that idea in our younger generations' heads because I think the reef is part of our livelihood."

Mr McLellan said the clean-up marks a milestone for Indigenous owner involvement in sea country care.

"It's all well and good to have that western science knowledge but where the magic really happens is where we start mixing traditional knowledge with western science knowledge," he said.

"We're always invited to sit on management panels and boards and have our input that way, but this is the first opportunity where Indigenous land and sea rangers have been able to be on the more hands-on experience on the vessel's monitoring, watching, learning, and swapping knowledge."

He said rangers would have the opportunity to raise Port Curtis Coral Coast elders' concerns through a hands-on role in the project.

"Some of our customs and sea country laws are you only take what you need, you always leave it the way in which you found it, and that applies on this project," Mr McLellan said.

"It needs to be back in the pristine position it was before the Shen Neng 1 ran aground and put all its toxic paint down there."

Part of Douglas Shoal not affected by the grounding, photographed in 2010. ( Supplied: GBRMPA )

Just how long it will take for the reef to be restored is unknown.

Mr Gray said he cannot answer that question because the GBRMPA had never seen a grounding that severe.

"One of the difficulties here is given the scale and extent of the damage, and given that we're moving into uncharted territory," he said.

Another unknown is the length of time it had taken to begin the restoration process, and whether that had caused more damage to the site.

"Whether we could have gone in early or not we will never really know what could have been done," Mr Gray said.

"But the idea of this project is to ensure that we capture all the learnings so in future if we have another grounding we can apply these learnings and intervene [earlier]."