The Vasse Estuary receives the highest nutrient loads of any estuary in WA. Report from the National Estuaries Network Science Forum on Barrier Estuaries The Department of Water, Water Science Branch and Busselton office together with Geocatch, hosted the National Estuaries Network Science Forum on Barrier Estuaries with special focus on the Vasse Wonnerup System […]
Scientists on a mission to better understand the ecological biodiversity that thrives on the ocean floor in Australia’s remote northwest are about to head out on the fourth of five field trips, this time to uncover what lives in the area of the proposed North Kimberley Marine Park. The results will be added to the […]
When an oil and gas project completes, the infrastructure that was installed on the seafloor needs to be managed properly. Decommissioning this infrastructure is very expensive, but companies do it to leave the site in good order as the company moves on. There are many strategies that can be employed to decommission offshore infrastructure from […]
By Natalie Jones, ABC Dolphins in Western Australia’s Kimberley are heavily reliant on their specific habitats and “quite vulnerable” to human activity, researchers have said. The researchers published the findings of a four-year study which provides the first estimates of the abundance of three shallow, inshore species of dolphin — the Australian snubfin, the Australian […]
One of the first studies to examine social values to be considered in management planning for Marine Protected Areas has highlighted the similarity and diversity among individuals when weighing the importance of environmental, economic, and social interests for proposed marine reserves in the Kimberley region. The results of the WAMSI-supported study was recently published in […]
As part a broader WAMSI research project examining human use off the Western Kimberley coast, Professor Lynnath Beckley and her team from Murdoch University have estimated visitation by expedition cruise vessels using cruise itineraries advertised online. Cruise visits The study found that there were 18 vessels (excluding vessels engaged in fishing tours) advertising Kimberley cruise […]
More than 40,000 aerial photographs of the Kimberley coast have been taken and scrutinised for signs of nesting turtles as part of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) turtle research project. Information about adult females and turtle hatchling numbers and species gleaned from tracks seen in the images of more than 2500 islands and […]
We have known for more than a decade that suspended sediments from dredging and other sources could impact coral fertilisation, but we didn’t know why. A WAMSI Dredging Science project is working to find the answers. Lead researcher Gerard Ricardo from The University of Western Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science said the […]
Australia’s northwest marine region is known for both its diversity and its remoteness. However, with increasing anthropogenic pressures within the region, there has been a growing need for accessible environmental and socio-economic information to support decision making. The North West Atlas was created in response to this need, providing comprehensive and accessible information for the […]
Research from the WAMSI Dredging Science Node has provided new insight into how seagrasses in the Pilbara may recover from disturbance events such as dredging. While some seagrasses can potentially recover from dredging related pressures over a 200 kilometre radius, others require another meadow within five kilometres to survive, or need to be regenerated from […]