The Pilbara coast, with its multitude of creek systems branching out to the ocean, has become the focus of extensive fieldwork. “You see the coastal cyanobacterial mats after a downpour go from brown to bright green and they’re literally bubbling with oxygen,” researcher Dr Shannon Dee said. Dr Dee, from Edith Cowan University’s School of […]
The fantastically efficient inbuilt weapon sawfish use to attack prey is also their undoing, according to researcher Associate Professor David Morgan who has studied the fish for several decades. “The saw-like rostrum on their heads is a morphological marvel,” Dr Morgan said. “The rostrum is used to hunt, to strike food and for their own […]
A seagrass restoration program, that is helping to regenerate Cockburn Sound’s underwater meadows, has had a record number of volunteers helping to spread hundreds of thousands of seeds from the plants. About 80 per cent of Cockburn Sound’s meadows were wiped out in the 1950s and 60s because of poor water quality. Seeds for Snapper […]
A quarter of all marine species depends on coral reefs but these vital parts of the oceans’ ecosystem are at risk from acidification, pollution, over-fishing and rising water temperatures. The University of Western Australia’s PhD candidate Josh Bonesso spoke to high school students recently about the significance of coral reefs, as part of the Western […]
Insects could be part of the solution to future global food security pressures, according to an aquaculture researcher looking at black soldier flies as a potential fish feed source. PhD candidate Isobel Sewell, from The University of Western Australia, told students in a Thinking Blue lecture there was growing pressure on wild stocks from overfishing. […]
A camera mounted above a beach at Carnac Island is giving researchers real time footage of Australian sea lions and allowing them to monitor the endangered animals. The equipment, which was installed in 2022, provides a window into the world of the male sea lions that use the A-class reserve to ‘haul out’ or recuperate […]
Marine scientist Josh Bonesso said he was honoured to be a ‘Student Scientist of the Year’ finalist in the Premier’s Science Awards and hoped it shone a light on the impact of climate change on coral reefs. Josh is a PhD student at The University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute and works part time at […]
The most comprehensive survey of fish larvae in Cockburn Sound has now uncovered more than 40,000 of the tiny creatures from at least 50 families. Researchers started monthly surveys in September 2021 as part of the WAMSI Westport Marine Science Program. Researcher Jake Nilsen, from Curtin University, said at least 128 unique taxa had been […]
Water quality in Cockburn Sound has been steadily improving for decades but seagrass and some fish stocks are still struggling to recover from the days of unrestricted pollution discharge, according to marine scientist Dr Fiona Webster. Dr Webster, who works at the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation assessing marine proposals, was speaking to students […]
A camera focused on a Ningaloo Reef beach captures life and death in a marine ecosystem in its rawest form: Ghost crabs scramble to catch freshly hatched loggerhead sea turtles before sea gulls swoop in to snap up others as they stagger towards the shoreline. Once in the water, there are new predators for the […]