MORE than 140 people turned out to Cannonvale's Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) club house last Wednesday for a special Reef Hour event.

Organised by members of the recently formed Businesses United for Reef Protection, Reef Hour was about involving the wider community in the protection of one of the Whitsundays' most important natural assets - the islands and Great Barrier Reef.

Explore Whitsundays co-owner Al Grundy was one of several business owners who addressed the crowd about the issues at stake and specifically the proposal to expand Abbot Point and relocate millions of cubic metres of dredge spoil at sea.

"We're not Greens, we're just small business people. We're seeing a decline in the quality of the water here and we're very concerned about it," Mr Grundy said.

Jan Claxton from Ocean Rafting said the concern for the Whitsundays was being "book-ended" by Abbot Point in the north and Hay Point in the south.

"We know it's going to impact us in some way, we just don't know how much [and] all we are asking them is to do the proper science and maybe find another solution for the dredge spoil," she said.

Reef Hour finished a day that started with talks between local tourism operators and Abbot Point proponents North Queensland Bulk Ports (NQBP).

NQBP senior manager of corporate relations Mary Steele said her company felt the meeting went well.

"It is very important for us to understand concerns of local businesses and communities first-hand because there is a lot of misinformation out in the public domain," she said.

"While we do not have a final site selected for placement of the dredged spoil we do know, based on studies spanning several months, that deep water offshore placement of the dredge material will provide the best environmental outcome. This decision is based on rigorous investigation of onshore, inshore and deep water offshore options."

Ms Steele said NQBP shared the same objective as the local tourist operators - to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

"And we intend to meet with them again to discuss and address any concerns they may have," she said.