Marine Science Australia
Marine Science News
Long-term monitoring update to condition of the Great Barrier Reef
The AIMS Long-term Monitoring Program has released an update on the condition of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) based on survey data gathered across the entire GBR over the last 32 years. The update, which assesses data captured up to February 2017, describes a system under considerable pressure.
Feeling helpless about the Great Barrier Reef? Here’s one way you can help
It is easy to feel overwhelmed when confronted with reports of the second mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef in as many years. But there is a way to help scientists monitor the reef’s condition.
Exceptional fish diversity found on Australia’s north-west oceanic shoals
Scientists have found exceptionally diverse and abundant coral-reef fish communities at submerged oceanic shoals near Ashmore Reef some 400 kilometres off north-western Australia.
March 23 2017
More intense cyclones pose threat to the world’s coral reefs
In the wake of the Great Barrier Reef’s most intense coral bleaching event, researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) report that predicted increases in the intensity of tropical cyclones due to climate change could greatly accelerate coral reef degradation and make it far more difficult for reefs to bounce back from disturbances.
Five ways to reduce your chances of encountering a shark this summer
Shark study reveals taste buds were key to evolution of teeth
The first creatures to evolve teeth didn’t have jaws. Many scientists believe these ancient fish developed the first tooth-like structures on their skin that were similar to the “denticle” scales that still cover sharks today, even after 500m years of evolution. It is thought that these denticles gradually migrated into the mouth to form oral teeth. However, research conducted by my colleagues and I suggests modern teeth – at least in sharks – may have also evolved from taste buds.
18 January 2017
Teenage male whale sharks don’t want to leave home
Researchers from The University of Western Australia and Australian Institute of Marine Science, (AIMS) and collaborators across the Indian Ocean have completed a huge photo-identification study to assess the seasonal habits of whale sharks in the tropics. They were surprised to discover that the male juveniles didn’t seem to venture too far from home.
Could ‘whale poo diplomacy’ help bring an end to whaling
While Japan’s new whaling program dominated the IWC’s summit last month, a Chilean-sponsored resolution nicknamed the “whale poo” resolution was also quietly adopted at the meeting.
Bright city lights are keeping fish awake and hungry
Light pollution is changing the day-night cycle of some fish, dramatically affecting their feeding behaviour.
The oceans are full of plastic, but why do seabirds eat it
Imagine that you are constantly eating, but slowly starving to death. Hundreds of species of marine mammals, fish, birds, and sea turtles face this risk every day when they mistake plastic debris for food.
November 14 2016
Sea Shepherd slams Baird's 1940's backwards approach to saving lives - merely another false sense of security
In response to the news today that NSW Premier Mike Baird will approve shark mesh nets for Ballina NSW, Sea Shepherd Australia had the following response.
October 12 2016
Marine parks and fishery management: what’s the best way to protect fish?
The federal government is considering changes to Australia’s marine reserves to implement a national system. This week The Conversation is looking at the science behind marine reserves and how to protect our oceans.
4 Oct 2016
More shark nets for NSW: why haven’t we learned from WA’s cull?
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird has this week announced a plan for a six-month trial of shark nets off the beaches of northern NSW. This would extend the state’s shark net program from the 51 beaches currently netted between Wollongong and Newcastle.
15 Oct 2016
New spider crab named 50 years after its discovery
A NEW species of spider crab has been named, more than 50 years after the first specimen was lodged at the Western Australian Museum.
Rigs to reefs: is it better to leave disused oil platforms where they stand?
The global offshore oil and gas industry has installed a wide variety of infrastructure throughout our oceans, including tens of thousands of wells, thousands of platforms and many thousands of kilometres of seabed pipelines.
10 August 2016
Crown-of-thorns starfish vision revealed for the first time
Scientists are looking for physical vulnerabilities in the coral-eating Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) in order to mitigate their harmful impacts on coral reefs when in plague numbers.
In their pursuit of an Achilles heel, scientists have focused on the animal’s ability to perceive its environment through its senses. Research has already demonstrated that adult COTS have a well-developed sense of smell, touch and taste. Better understanding these aspects of COTS biology may lead to new methods to either disperse or attract them in order to control their numbers.
11 August 2016
Playing on fears: Exploring the use of the Pacific triton for mitigating crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks
Controlling repeated outbreaks of the coral-eating Crown-of-Thorns Starfish, Acanthaster planci, is one of the greatest challenges facing resource managers of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Pacific triton (Charonia tritonis, also known as the “giant triton”) is a large marine snail that inhabits coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region. They are rare; historical evidence of harvesting levels is scant, however scientists speculate that overharvesting of the snails for the meat and shell has led to threatened status throughout their range. As such, tritons have been protected on the GBR for decades.
25 July 2016
Australian First Shark Spotting Trial to Begin In Byron Bay
In a partnership between Sea Shepherd, Byron Shire Council and the Member for Ballina Tamara Smith MLA, a feasibility study for shark spotting will take place at Wategos Beach after Mayor Simon Richardson successful moved a Mayoral Minute to support it at last weeks Council meeting.
The facts on Great Barrier Reef coral mortality
Despite reported claims and counter claims over the last month about the ‘death’ of large swathes of the Great Barrier Reef, the true impact of this summer’s major coral bleaching event is now emerging. Preliminary findings from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) show approximately three quarters of coral on the Reef has survived to date. The vast majority of the impact is in the northern third of the Reef, from Port Douglas to Cape York, with the central and southern regions escaping significant mortality.
AIMS June 3 2016
Local leads most successful seagrass restoration in the world
WHEN Geoff Bastyan noticed Seagrass disappearing from harbours in Albany nearly 50 years ago, he would never have predicted his observation would lead to the most successful seagrass restoration in the world.
AIMS GBR Bleaching Monitoring update
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is in the midst of a period of mass coral bleaching, part of a wider event affecting coral reefs globally. Surveys by air and sea reveal that bleaching is widespread across the Reef, but that the severity is not uniform.
The data collected shows that the severity of bleaching that will cause mortality to the coral community has been restricted to the upper third of the GBR, from Port Douglas north.
Western Australian reefs feel the heat from global bleaching event
Western Australian reefs feel the heat from global bleaching event. Scientists aboard AIMS research vessel Solander at Scott Reef, an isolated coral reef system located 250 km off the northwest coast of Western Australia, are reporting 60-90% of corals in water depths of up to 15 m have bleached and that wide-spread mortality is already evident.
AIMS takes coral bleaching to task
This past week, as field observations and aerial surveys of severe bleaching poured in from Cairns north to Torres Strait, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) lifted its response...
31 March 2016
Queensland Fisheries secretly considering the use of smart drum lines within the Great Barrier Reef
The Queensland Fisheries Minister, Leanne Donaldson has revealed in a letter to Independent MP, Peter Wellington, that the Department has requested a permit for additional drum lines in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park for the potential future trialing of new technology such as smart drum lines.
29 March 2016
Rare Mobula Rays found dead in Queensland Shark Nets
Sea Shepherd crew aligned with the Apex Harmony Campaign, have made a gruesome discovery of two rare mobula rays, which appear to be Japanese Devilrays, dead in a shark net, 100 meters from each other at Miami Beach on the Gold Coast. One of the rays, had two large bites within its body, appearing to have come from a shark.
Shark Spotters coming to Australia from Cape Town, South Africa
The co-founder and project manager of a successful shark mitigation program in Cape Town, South Africa will be coming to Australia in early March, to ascertain whether the initiative could be introduced at beaches within Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.
Boat noise makes fish vulnerable to predators
New research has found that noise from passing motorboats increases stress levels in young coral reef fish and reduces their ability to flee from predators. As a consequence they are captured more easily and their survival chances are halved.
Don’t go in the water: a world of pain awaits in Australia’s deep blue seas
Australia’s reputation for deadly creatures of all kinds is known the world over. Tourists worry about it, and comedians have a field day with it.
13 Jan 2016
Shark safety tips: sorting out fact from fiction
There are more than 500 species of shark and only three of them pose a significant threat to humans. These are the great white, bull or Zambezi and tiger shark.
The probability of being bitten by a shark is statistically extremely low. There were 72 shark bites, three of them fatal, reported worldwide in 2014. Considering that hundreds of thousands of people use the ocean daily for recreation, this is a staggeringly low number.
Early warning signs of widespread coral bleaching in 2016
Record breaking summer ocean temperatures have led to widespread coral bleaching in the northern hemisphere. These hot conditions are predicted to extend into the southern hemisphere in the...
The secret to becoming an ocean giant
How do the world’s largest fish – whale sharks – reach such immense sizes when they feed on some of the smallest prey in the ocean?
The answer, according to a new study, is that whale sharks are very efficient foragers, using a combination of "yo-yo" like swimming to save energy and specially-adapted bodies to maximise heat conservation as they search for "krill" (tiny, shrimp-like animals) that they feed on in cold ocean depths.
Documents reveal mass capture of over 84,800 marine animals in Queensland
A Freedom of Information request initially started by Sea Shepherd Australia and then followed up by Shark Files Queensland, has revealed the staggering impact that the Queensland Shark Control Program has had on a large variety of marine life, including over 9,000 unborn pups.
Catch-data dating back to November 1962, reveals that over 84,800 marine animals have been ensnared in the program, including many, vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered species.
Sydney’s waters could be tropical in decades, here’s the bad news…
Welcome to tropical Sydney, where colourful surgeonfishes and parrotfishes are plentiful, corals have replaced kelp forests, and underwater life seems brighter, more colourful and all-round better. Or is it?
While this vision of a future Sydney is just an embellished cartoon of what climate change would do off the city’s coastline, our recent research does point to a widespread “tropicalisation” of temperate coastlines such as Sydney within the next few decades. This may sound pleasant, but it can lead to unwanted consequences.
Sharks on film! Global shark and ray survey begins at 400 reefs
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and James Cook University (JCU) are working with a team of US and other international researchers, to capture underwater videos of sharks and rays..
We already cull thousands of predatory sharks a year, but shark attacks are rising
The Lennox-Ballina board riders club should be congratulated on attempting to bring the community together to find a common voice to the increasing shark encounters in the region.
Is the Queensland Government killing sharks and marine life without a permit to do so?
Demand for Omega-3 wiping out Krill
Around the world, growing demand for farmed fish and omega-3 health supplements is coming at a hidden cost – the Antarctic, one of the last unspoiled oceans on the planet. In a quest to exploit the Antarctic krill as a raw material input into both fish farming and omega-3 supplements, this pristine environment and its whales, penguins, seals and birds are dangerously threatened.
Dietary Supplement companies (and their suppliers) are now depleting a species already feeling some of the worst effects of climate change, and quite literally taking the food right out of the mouths of whales (as well as penguins, seals, fish, etc.). That’s why SeaShepherd are now taking the fight to the mainland and confront the Supplement Supply companies every day at supermarkets and chemists across Australia.
Marine Science News
Long-term monitoring update to condition of the Great Barrier Reef
Feeling helpless about the Great Barrier Reef? Here’s one way you can help
Exceptional fish diversity found on Australia’s north-west oceanic shoals
More intense cyclones pose threat to the world’s coral reefs
Shark study reveals taste buds were key to evolution of teeth
Marine Science facts
- Irukandji jelly fish, with just a brush of venom leaves almost no mark. But after about a half hour you develop Irukandji syndrome, a debilitating mix of nausea, vomiting, severe pain, difficulty breathing, drenching sweating and sense of impending doom. You get so sick that your biggest worry is that you’re not going to die
- Half the Oxygen we breath is produced in the Ocean
- The most remote point in the oceans is called Point Nemo
- The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans are known as the three major oceans.