Premier launches Marine Science Blueprint at WAMSI conference

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Western Australian Premier and Minister for Science Hon. Colin Barnett MLA launched the WA Blueprint for Marine Science 2050 at the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) research conference (30 March-1 April).

The Blueprint is an important initiative that aims to help government, research institutions and industry to better plan and collaborate on the priority marine research needed to support the future prosperity of WA and the nation.

The recommendations are the culmination of comprehensive consultation focusing on the end users of research, business, industry, government and community groups brought together by an independent steering group led by renowned scientist and advocate for collaborative research, E/Prof Alistar Robertson.     

Premier Barnett, Professor Robertson and WAMSI CEO Patrick Seares launched the Blueprint on Wednesday 1st April 2015 at 1.30pm at the WAMSI Conference held at the State Library.

WAMSI Conference 

The 2015 research conference has provided progress updates and latest findings from more than 50 WAMSI projects being delivered by its partner organisations forming part of two of the largest marine research programs in Australia.

Among the keynote speakers;

  • EPA Chairman Paul Vogel will discuss science, knowledge and managing risk through environmental impact assessment;
  • Woodside Energy, Senior Vice President Science and Technology, Shaun Gregory, will provide an industry perspective on strategic marine science;
  • WA Chief Scientist Peter Klinken will present his views on the State’s research focus; and
  • WAMSI CEO Patrick Seares will present an overview of research progress, future direction and initiatives to improve collaboration on information.

Over the course of the three day conference, lead researchers and industry representatives who are working with WAMSI on the Kimberley Marine Research Program and the Dredging Science Node provided updates on the foundational research supporting these programs including:

  • Reports on the most up to date information available for use in dredging operations and management, including lessons learned from the Gorgon Dredging Project at Barrow Island and its application to the management of the Wheatstone Dredging Project at Onslow; and 
  • Key findings and future direction for marine research being carried out for the first time in the unique conditions that exist off the Kimberley coast.  

WAMSI Conference 2015

Location:        The State Library of Western Australia

         Perth Cultural Centre, 25 Francis Street, Perth

Date:              Monday 30 March – Wednesday 1 April 2015.

Click here to view the full conference schedule (as at 26/02/2015)

More information including conference schedule updates, abstracts and audio/PowerPoint presentations are available on the WAMSI Conference 2015 webpage.    

 

Category: 

Research Conference 2015 Kimberley Marine Research Program Dredging Science

The Kimberley coastline: what lies beneath?

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The ocean bottom supports communities as diverse as those of any habitat on land but learning about what lies beneath the sea off Australia’s remote and hazardous Kimberley coast is presenting many challenges for marine scientists.

One project, which aims to explore and describe the nature of seabed life in the far northwest, is beginning to reveal the diverse nature of life beneath the sometimes swirling, turbid waters.

The results will form the basis for sound decision making to support conservation and sustainable development of marine parks as part of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution’s (WAMSI) Kimberley Marine Research Program.

Project leader, The Australian Institute of Marine Science’s (AIMS) Dr Andrew Heyward explained how the researchers are collecting data where ships carrying scientists and a range of equipment will survey the seabed areas in the southern, central and northern Kimberley.

“This work is the major field activity for the project and consists of five expeditions over the next couple of years. The first, undertaken last November, focussed on mapping the very large area contained within the boundaries of the recently declared Lalang -garram/Camden Sound Marine Park.”

“We mainly used acoustic mapping of depth and seabed shape using multibeam echo sounders combined with direct assessment of habitats on the seabed using towed video cameras,” Dr Heyward said.

Along with researchers from CSIRO and the WA Museum, the scientists will also work with Indigenous groups of the Kimberley coasts, including the sea rangers, who will provide additional information about shallow near shore areas.

“The initial survey has revealed very complex seabed shapes in some places, particularly close to island edges and narrow channels, where the extreme tides caused strong currents,” Dr Heyward said. “In those places the seabed was fairly hard, being either exposed rocky ground or pavement with a veneer of coarse sand.

Those sorts of places often supported low to medium density patches of filter feeding organisms like sponges and sea fans.”

High resolution photos also revealed very diverse life was often present on submerged rocks and ledges, but many of the organisms were small or encrusting. The researchers anticipate that many new species, both large and small, will be discovered once samples are identified back at the WA Museum.

In the northern part of the Lalang -garram/ Camden Sound Marine Park, an archipelago of islands provides a range of different habitats, including fringing reefs where, at low tide, abundant areas of coral can be seen exposed on the edges of the reef flats.

In contrast the deeper and more open bay areas of Camden Sound typically had fewer exposed rocky areas of seabed, but were frequently large areas of sand, including in a few places, large underwater sand dunes formed by the strong tidal currents.

“So the large open part of the Lalang -garram/Camden Sound zoned for whale sanctuary, is kind of like a big sandpit for them to frolic in,” Dr Heyward said.

Mixed brozoans soft corals sponges & seafans on rock

The researchers found that during spring the tidal currents caused increased turbidity, making camera work very challenging. The turbid water also greatly reduced the amount of light reaching the seabed.

“When we measured this it was quite common for little or no light to reach below depths of 10-15m below low tide,” Dr Heyward said. “This observation explains why organisms that rely on light for growth were not found in the broader parts of the bay which were typically 20-40m deep. So things like seaweeds and reef building corals tend to be close to the edges on hard rocky ground that is not too deep.”

A second expedition back to Camden Sound will commence this March. While further mapping of the seabed will continue, that expedition will also allow the scientists from AIMS, CSIRO and WA Museum, to collect samples of the biota. These samples will form the basis of the Kimberley project’s biodiversity reference collection at the WA Museum.

 

The $30 million Kimberley Marine Research Program is funded through major investment supported by $12 million from the Western Australian government co-invested by the WAMSI partners and supported by the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley. 

 

Category:

Kimberley Marine Research Program

WAMSI research finds northwest seagrass in a world of its own

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Groundbreaking research into the sensitivity of seagrasses off the northwest coast has uncovered unique behaviour that could lead to a re-think in the way the region is managed.

The seagrasses off Western Australia are the most extensive and diverse of any region in the world with 26 species in 11 genera, accounting for more than 35 per cent of all species currently described globally.

The submerged flowering plants play a vital role in supporting biodiversity, filtering harmful chemicals and nutrients, and sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. Tropical seagrasses are also a critical food source for fauna such as dugong and green turtles, but little is known about populations off the subtropical northwest .

A Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) Dredging Science Node project has brought together researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU), The University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to measure the effects of light reduction and sediment burial to determine the capacity for northwest seagrasses to withstand change.

Tolerance levels have previously been determined for seagrasses in the southwest but they are very different to the species off the far northwest coast according to ECU Professor Paul Lavery.

“In the southwest, the dominant species of seagrasses have large storage organs and carbon reserves, and produce large non-dormant seeds,” Professor Lavery said. “Because of their considerable carbon reserves, when they are placed under stress by dredging operations, they draw on those carbon reserves and can survive for several months.

James McLouglin and Roisin McCallum establish a field experiment at Thevenard Is. to determine the mechanisms and rate of seagrass recovery
James McLouglin and Roisin McCallum establish
a field experiment at Thevenard Is. to determine
the mechanisms and rate of seagrass recover

“The seagrass species up north are much smaller, producing small dormant seeds that lay waiting in sediments. They appear to be much more sensitive to changes in light and sediment cover. However we need to be cautious,” he said. “While they may show a rapid response to dredging-induced changes, we don’t really understand yet if they can recover quickly from those impacts. It’s possible that a few months after complete loss, the meadow returns from seed.”

The researchers are conducting a combination of field studies and controlled laboratory experiments.

“We’re working in the Pilbara areas around Exmouth Gulf and Thevenard Island (about 20km off Onslow),” Professor Lavery said. “We’ve been going up every few months to measure characteristics of the meadows, from when they grow, to when they die off and how much biomass there is. This is information we just don’t have for seagrasses in the north.”

Northern sites_Mick Haywood
Research sites in the Pilbara areas around Exmouth Gulf and Thevenard Island

The research program is focused on gaining information that is useful and relevant in a systematic way. An initial recommendation from the research is that pre-development surveys and ongoing monitoring programs for seagrass should consider the time of year. In the month of June, for example, there appears to be no seagrass meadows. It’s not until September that they start to grow back.

“This most basic and fundamental piece of information we didn’t understand before,” Professor Lavery said. “This in turn will save money for companies as they often conduct costly surveys when seagrass is not naturally present.”

We’ve now conducted field studies in several locations to see if the same sort of patterns exist in each location and so far we’re finding that different places have different patterns, which makes things more complicated and is going to make advising government and industry more challenging.”

Off Thevenard Island the researchers removed seagrasses from both shallow and deep water meadows to observe how the system recovers.

“We wanted to see if the meadows can recover from seed or by material drifting in from elsewhere,” Professor Lavery said. “So far we aren’t seeing any recovery by seed. There seems to be a need to have vegetative material available for it to grow back. So it’s back to the lab now to find out the capacity for the seagrasses to withstand change.”

 

The WAMSI Dredging Science Node is made possible through $9.5 million invested by Woodside, Chevron and BHP as environmental offsets. A further $9.5 million has been co-invested by the WAMSI Joint Venture partners, adding significantly more value to this initial industry investment. The node is also supported through critical data provided by Chevron, Woodside and Rio Tinto Iron Ore.

Category:

Dredging Science

Seagrass helps protect natural ‘carbon sinks’, study finds

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The disappearance of seagrass meadows could be contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, an international study has found.

As ABC online reports, research conducted at Oyster Harbour in Albany found centuries-old carbon dioxide deposits have been created by seagrass meadows.

Scientists at The University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute, in conjunction with overseas researchers, discovered the meadows act as carbon “sinks”, preventing the erosion of carbon deposits and the subsequent release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

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Going with the flow in the Kimberley

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A Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) project is using genetics to see how ocean currents in the Kimberley transport marine organisms from one reef to another.

Bardi-Jawi rangers, Mayala traditional owners and researchers from four WAMSI partner institutions recently conducted field studies along the remote and rugged coastline, collecting samples on exposed reefs at low tide between the 12 metre tidal surges around the Dampier Peninsular and Buccaneer Archipelago.

“We collected seagrasses, corals, fishes and trochus shells that live in the intertidal zone which is exposed at low tide,” CSIRO’s Dr. Oliver Berry said.

“We selected these species to represent the types of organisms that are common in the Kimberley. Some are also commercially, recreationally or culturally important like the trochus shell and stripey snapper, or form key habitats like seagrass and corals.”

Sites sampled Dampier Peninsular and Buccaneer Archipelago

Sites sampled Dampier Peninsular and Buccaneer Archipelago

 

The researchers are using scans of the organisms’ genomes to measure the genetic relationships between different reefs and seagrass beds. The more genetically similar the organisms from different reefs are, the more movement occurs between them.

“When you consider managing a marine resource you have to understand what drives population dynamics,” Dr. Berry said. “For some populations whether they are growing or shrinking is driven locally by births and deaths. But, especially in places where there are strong tides and currents, it’s possible that even populations quite distant from each other are strongly interdependent because organisms move between them a lot.”

“A seemingly large area like the Kimberley can be very linked if hydrodynamics (ocean currents) drive those population linkages. So if there was a disaster at one location, if that population was insular, or locally driven, it may take a long time for it to recover. But if the population was linked to other areas then it may recover more rapidly. What we’re trying to do is to better understand these relationships between populations.

“Of course it’s a difficult thing to study because most movement in marine species occurs when they are tiny eggs, seeds, or larvae. Genetics is a way to indirectly measure movement, and it’s becoming increasingly cost-effective and powerful with the development of genome sequencing technologies,” Dr. Berry said.

The research being undertaken by WAMSI with scientists from Edith Cowan University, AIMS, Department of Fisheries, WA and the Western Australian Museum, is expected to uncover a range of different patterns reflecting the exposure to currents of different reefs and the different life histories of the organisms.

“For example, looking at the patterns in the trochus shell, we know it has a short larval stage and that some fishes have longer ones,” Dr Berry said. “We expect this to mean fish get transported further and that these differences will be reflected in the genetic relationships between populations.”

“This is the first time anyone has attempted anything like this in the Kimberley, and anywhere in the world in such a macro-tidal environment,” he said.

“Now that there is increasing interest in developing the region we need to get a baseline understanding of how the ecosystem works, so that it can be managed effectively,” Dr Berry said. “We expect to have some results by the end of this year.”

 

[The $30 million Kimberley Marine Research Program is funded through major investment supported by $12 million from the Western Australian government co-invested by the WAMSI partners and supported by the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley.]

 

 

 

Category:

Kimberley Marine Research Program

Perth Canyon: first deep sea exploration

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A group of acclaimed scientists will go where few others have gone before when they set out to unlock the secrets of a deep ocean canyon off Perth the size of the Grand Canyon in the US.

A research team headed by The University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute’s Professor Malcolm McCulloch, together with researchers from theWestern Australian Museum, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Institute of Marine Sciences in Italy. will be among the first to explore life in the vast Perth Canyon, about 50km off Fremantle.

Professor McCulloch will lead the research team’s expedition on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel, R/V Falkor, during a 12-day trip departing on Sunday, 1 March.

Researchers will use a deep-diving remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to discover and collect deep-sea corals and sea water from the canyon.  Chemical and biological analyses of these rare samples will provide critical new data about the canyon’s marine ecosystems.  This will help determine the likely future impacts of warming seas and ocean acidification on the deep-sea life and waters in these remote and previously inaccessible habitats.

If you would like to find out how they fare, visit the blog
www.schmidtocean.org/story/show/3036

Premier launches Marine Science Blueprint at WAMSI conference

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This article was originally published on an archived WAMSI website. Some media or links may appear missing or broken. You can use the search function to look for these, or contact info@wamsi.org.au for a specific request.

—

Western Australian Premier and Minister for Science Hon. Colin Barnett MLA launched the WA Blueprint for Marine Science 2050 at the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) research conference (30 March-1 April).

The Blueprint is an important initiative that aims to help government, research institutions and industry to better plan and collaborate on the priority marine research needed to support the future prosperity of WA and the nation.

The recommendations are the culmination of comprehensive consultation focusing on the end users of research, business, industry, government and community groups brought together by an independent steering group led by renowned scientist and advocate for collaborative research, E/Prof Alistar Robertson.

Premier Barnett, Professor Robertson and WAMSI CEO Patrick Seares launched the Blueprint on Wednesday 1st April 2015 at 1.30pm at the WAMSI Conference held at the State Library.

WAMSI Conference 

The 2015 research conference has provided progress updates and latest findings from more than 50 WAMSI projects being delivered by its partner organisations forming part of two of the largest marine research programs in Australia.

Among the keynote speakers;

  • EPA Chairman Paul Vogel will discuss science, knowledge and managing risk through environmental impact assessment;
  • Woodside Energy, Senior Vice President Science and Technology, Shaun Gregory, will provide an industry perspective on strategic marine science;
  • WA Chief Scientist Peter Klinken will present his views on the State’s research focus; and
  • WAMSI CEO Patrick Seares will present an overview of research progress, future direction and initiatives to improve collaboration on information.

Over the course of the three day conference, lead researchers and industry representatives who are working with WAMSI on the Kimberley Marine Research Program and the Dredging Science Node provided updates on the foundational research supporting these programs including:

  • Reports on the most up to date information available for use in dredging operations and management, including lessons learned from the Gorgon Dredging Project at Barrow Island and its application to the management of the Wheatstone Dredging Project at Onslow; and
  • Key findings and future direction for marine research being carried out for the first time in the unique conditions that exist off the Kimberley coast.

WAMSI Conference 2015

Location:        The State Library of Western Australia

Perth Cultural Centre, 25 Francis Street, Perth

Date:              Monday 30 March – Wednesday 1 April 2015.

Click here to view the full conference schedule (as at 26/02/2015)

More information including conference schedule updates, abstracts and audio/PowerPoint presentations are available on the WAMSI Conference 2015 webpage.

Deep sea expedition dives into Perth canyon

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A group of acclaimed scientists from The University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute will go where few others have gone before when they set out to unlock the secrets of a deep ocean canyon off Perth the size of the USA’s Grand Canyon.

A UWA team headed by Professor Malcolm McCulloch, together with researchers from the Western Australian Museum, CSIRO and the Institute of Marine Sciences in Italy, will be among the first to explore life in the vast Perth Canyon, about 50km off Fremantle.

The underwater canyon formed over tens of millions of years and extends from the continental shelf edge of Western Australia to depths of more than four kilometres to the abyssal sea floor.  Major up-swelling of essential nutrients in the canyon makes it a global marine hotspot, attracting blue whales and other large fauna that migrate to the waters seasonally to feed.  Despite being so close to Perth and Fremantle, little is known about life in its deep abyss.

Professor McCulloch and his team will lead the research expedition on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel, R/V Falkor, during a 12-day trip departing on Sunday, 1 March.

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Turtle and shark tagging part of new Ningaloo Reef research partnership

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Ningaloo Reef is the largest fringing reef in the world, extending for 300 kilometres along the northwest coast of Australia.

The five-year, jointly-funded $5 million research program will include both deep and shallow reef research, turtle and shark tagging, a PhD scholarship scheme and opportunities to engage the local community, including BHP Billiton Petroleum employees, in Exmouth, WA.

Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane, joined CSIRO Executive Director Environment, Dr Andrew Johnson, and BHP Billiton Petroleum General Manager, Doug Handyside to launch the partnership in Perth.

Mr Handyside said the investment in marine science would help the oil and gas industry to better understand the reef and help target conservation efforts.

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Tiger sharks are big movers

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WA research has uncovered extraordinary details about the movements of tiger sharks with evidence suggesting their local range extends thousands of kilometres from Indonesia to Esperance.

Despite common beliefs that tiger sharks are almost exclusively a tropical water species, scientists have found they are capable of travelling vast distances in often colder climates.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science, WA’s Fisheries Department, the University of WA and CSIRO have been carrying out a program aiming to break new ground in the understanding of the species.

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