School’s out on tropical fish nurseries in the Kimberley

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It’s an amazing journey for most tropical fish starting out life as larvae floating in the open ocean to making it back to the coast to settle down and live out the rest of their days.

During this process many species undergo rapid and often radical changes in their appearance changing from transparent larvae to the beautiful diversity of shapes and colours we are most familiar with.

Understanding when, where and how many tropical fish settle into different Kimberley habitats will provide an important management tool to help protect essential nursery areas and ensure there are plenty of reproductive adults to resupply following generations.

Alongside the Bardi-Jawi Marine Rangers and Traditional Owners, a WAMSI team from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), CSIRO, Western Australian Museum and Departments of Fisheries and Parks and Wildlife, began surveys of fish recruitment in April.

Diversity of larval fish (and other) forms captured from the open ocean. Image from Robert Cowen Laboratory, University of Miami, USA.

“The first stage was to develop the right technique to do this accurately in the challenging Kimberley environment,” AIMS researcher Martial Depczynski explained.

“We assessed nine different methods among seagrass, coral reef, inter-tidal and mangrove habitats typical of the Kimberley region.

“We found in most cases that different nursery habitats were best quantified using different methods but that one single method was sufficiently efficient, easy, cost-effective and safe to use in all four habitats,” Dr Depczynski said.

Lifecycle of a juvenile reef fish. Fish begin their lives in the open ocean as semi-transparent larvae before recruiting and settling into their juvenile and adult coastal habitat often for the rest of their lives. During recruitment, they undergo metamorphosis losing their larval features to take on their characteristic shape and colouration. Image from Reefkeeping South Africa.

The investigators found that remote underwater video, although new to the task of recording small juvenile fishes, was able to provide robust relative estimates of abundance and diversity in fish nursery habitats and was the best option among the nine methods.

“Now that the correct methodology has been developed, our next trip in October, which will run in conjunction with a team investigating the same recruitment process in corals, will concentrate on getting a solid data set together to answer questions such as; what nursery habitats are important to what fish species, are there hotspots of fish recruitment activity and what is the strength of fish recruitment in dry versus wet seasons,” Dr Depczynski said.

“We will continue to work in with the Bardi-Jawi Marine Rangers and the Traditional Owners on the Cape Leveque – Sunday Island – Cygnet Bay area to better understand the processes that govern fish recruitment processes in this area.

“The main aim and best possible outcome from this WAMSI project is to have definitive quantitative data on fish and coral nursery areas which identify nursery hotspots and can feed into both State and Indigenous management plans such as the next Bardi-Jawi Indigenous Area Management Plan.

Remote underwater video unit deployed to record newly recruited fishes in an intertidal rock pool during low spring tides on Sunday Island.

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

 

Category:

Kimberley Marine Research Program

National Marine Science Plan Q & A with Chair John Gunn

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Chair of National Marine Science Committee John Gunn talks about the importance of having a national plan, what it means for Western Australia and how partners in industry, government and consulting will be involved.

1.       Why is it so important to have a National Plan for Marine Science?

There are a number of drivers that lead to development of the Plan. Two of the high level ones are:

The Australian Government has recently announced, through the Commonwealth Science Council its new “Science and Research Priorities” (SRP) (http://science.gov.au/scienceGov/ScienceAndResearchPriorities/Pages/default.aspx). These include an explicit focus on marine science, and a requirement that we have a clear plan for how we will deliver on the priorities. The intent of the SRPs is to ensure that investment from the Australian government in science is going to the most important areas. The Plan aligns well with the SRPs, and provides a clear articulation of how the 2300 strong marine science community can work together to meet a set of grand challenges.

Second, marine science is “big science”. It requires significant investment in research vessels, high end observing and experimental infrastructure, regional-to-national scale modelling frameworks etc. As we are (and I suspect always will be)  resource constrained, it makes sense that the marine science community  work together/collaborate at regional and national levels. The Plan sets out a number of recommendations where we can work towards developing national programs that will flow down to regional/state and local scale applications. This model of working extends beyond the research community into end-users. There are many benefits –  to industry, governments and community – of working at scale and across the public-private spectrum, and there is a loud call to all involved in the blue economy to collaborate and co-invest in building our national knowledge base.

By taking a collaborative, long-term, national approach to prioritising marine science in Australia, as we have in the National Marine Science Plan 2015-2025: Driving the development of Australia’s blue economy, we not only get the best investment returns for Australia’s $47 billion per annum blue economy and avoid duplication of effort, we also ensure that our people and infrastructure are focused on solving the highest priority challenges facing our ocean environments.

After all, Australia has the third largest marine jurisdiction of any nation on Earth – 13.86 million square kilometres – and we have a search-and-rescue area of 52.8 million square kilometres which is over a tenth of the Earth’s surface, giving us all the more reason to prioritise our marine science efforts.

2.       What are the highlights of the NMSP and why do you believe they are so important?

The Plan begins with a vision for what 2025 will look like if the Plan recommendations are realised. This includes helping Australia’s blue economy to reach its $100 million per annum potential, aiding efficient and effective decision-making by government, non-government organisations and industries, ensuring sustainable use of our iconic reef, marine park and Antarctic systems, improving operational safety on our waters, understanding how best to mitigate the impact of climate variability and change, discovering new opportunities and environments, and ensuring that users of our marine estate increasingly work together. This is our ambition for the Plan.

The development of this Plan has also highlighted to me the passion and commitment of our community, with over 500 marine scientists and their stakeholders volunteering their time to assist in the development of the Plan. These stakeholders helped to develop robust science plans (or white papers) for eight ‘grand challenge’ areas facing our marine estate: marine sovereignty and security; energy security; food security; biodiversity conservation and ecosystem health; climate variability and change; urban coastal environments; optimal resource allocation and infrastructure. These white papers are available at www.marinescience.net.au and underpin the science proposed in the Plan.

By having such a collaborative approach – complemented by a two day Symposium in November 2014 and extensive consultation on our early drafts of the Plan – I can say with confidence that this Plan owned by the broad marine science community whether they be from academia, government, industry or the community.

Another highlight for me is the discipline we’ve used to arrive at the recommendations and investment priorities identified in the Plan.  This document brings together the needs of each of these eight  grant challenge areas, looks at the commonalities and differences, considers skills, infrastructure and relationships needs, and brings these requirements together a set of eight recommendations:

  1. Create an explicit focus on the blue economy throughout the marine science system
  2. Establish and support a National Marine Baselines and Long-term Monitoring Program, to develop a comprehensive assessment of our estate, and to help manage Commonwealth and State Marine Reserves
  3. Facilitate coordinated national studies on marine system processes and resilience to enable understanding of development (urban, industrial and coastal) and climate change impacts in our marine estate
  4. Create a National Oceanographic Modelling System to supply the accurate, detailed knowledge and predictions of ocean state that defence, industry and government need
  5. Develop a dedicated and coordinated science program to support decision-making by policymakers and marine industry
  6. Sustain and expand the Integrated Marine Observing System to support critical climate change and coastal systems research, including coverage of key estuarine systems
  7. Develop marine science research training that is more quantitative, cross-disciplinary and congruent with the needs of industry and government
  8. Fund national research vessels for full use

3.       What does the NMSP mean for WA?

As WA has estuaries, coastal development, marine reserves, a fisheries industry, marine biodiversity, energy security, increased shipping activities and a need to adapt to the impact of climate variation and make evidence-based decisions about the sustainable development of its waters, it faces many of the same challenges the rest of Australia does. Ergo, WA benefits from national-scale research efforts as they flow through to the state and local government jurisdictions.

A good example of this combined national and state benefit is the expansion of Integrated Monitoring Observing System (IMOS) (currently with a regional node in WA) as one of the Plan’s recommendations. This will broaden IMOS’ current scope to support critical climate change and coastal systems research.

4.       How does this complement the Blueprint for Marine Science 2050 (released in April)?

In many ways WA has been the trail blazer for marine science prioritisation – with the development of the Blueprint for Marine Science 2050. The Blueprint dovetails nicely with the objectives and recommendations of the National Marine Science Plan. The findings of the Blueprint were considered during the Plan’s development (albeit recognising that it focusing on the needs of WA and WA’s immediate ocean environment) many of the lead authors being involved in both documents. And of course it helps that I sit on WAMSI Board that oversaw the development of the Blueprint.

By directly referencing the Blueprint and work of WAMSI in the National Marine Science Plan, the Plan can now work as a high-level vehicle for industry, the public and the international community to understand where Australia is coming together to prioritise its research efforts and how these efforts will help our oceans to continue to thrive.

5.       How will the broader science sector including industry, government and consulting be involved in the NMSP as it rolls out?

We’ve tried to ensure that our wider stakeholder groups have been closely involved in the development of the Plan, both through the white paper/science plan process, and through membership on the National Marine Science Committee (NMSC) – a consortium of 23 research institutes, universities, government departments and science groups with an interest in marine science which I chair and who have led the development of this Plan.

The Plan’s ambition is to ensure that current marine science funding gains greater traction by increasing the focus and coordination of existing science and research capability. The NMSC is beginning the Plan’s implementation by scoping Australia’s current capacity to deliver under each of the recommendations.

However in the Plan it is recognised that given the breadth of challenges and beneficiaries, additional future investment to realise the Plan’s vision must come from a broad base including different levels of government, private industry and the community. The aspirations of this decadal plan will not be realised with ‘business as usual’ marine science.

The Plan has been designed to prioritise and coordinate marine science over the next decade and includes the following investment priorities: a National Blue Economy Innovation Fund; National Marine Research Infrastructure; a National Baselines and Monitoring Program; a National Integrated Marine Experimental Facility; a National Ocean Modelling Program; and a Marine Science Capability Development Fund.

These investments will help us to build and operate essential research infrastructure, form collaborative science and research centres for priority interdisciplinary science, and support the next generation of marine science graduates.

More information about the National Marine Science Plan can be found at: www.marinescience.net.au/


John Gunn, National Marine Science Committee (NMSC) Chair and CEO AIMS, with The Hon Karen Andrews, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science, and The Hon Ian Macfarlane MP, Minister for Industry and Science at the launch.

 

The big comeback: it’s time to declare victory for Australian humpback whale conservation

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Written by: Michelle Bejder, , and for The Conversation

When it comes to conservation, good news is pretty thin on the ground – and the ocean, for that matter. We have grown much more used to hearing about marine species that face extinction, decline or negative impacts than about those that are thriving. But if we are to avoid getting demoralised, conservation biology needs victories to celebrate.

So here’s one: the remarkable recovery of humpback whales that breed in Australian waters. Our review of the available data, published today in Marine Policy, suggests that humpback whale populations in Australian waters have recovered to the extent that we should consider downlisting them from the official list of threatened species.

The humpback whale should be a cause for optimism and hope. It’s an important counterbalance to the seemingly relentless communication of marine conservation problems with little in the way of good news. We hope this kind of optimism will convince politicians and the public that conservation problems can indeed be solved, and to stay dedicated to making that happen.

Turning the tide

Australia has one of the highest rates of species extinction in the world. But despite this, the past decade has seen rare examples of animals that are rebounding and thriving.

Humpback whales are one such example. They are listed as “vulnerable” on Australia’s official list of threatened species, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

But our review, led by Michelle Bejder of BMT Oceanica and based on the best available scientific data, suggests that humpback whales no longer need to be on the EPBC Act’s Threatened Species list. Both the east and west Australia populations of humpback whales have recovered substantially from the damage done in the commercial whaling era (roughly from 1912 to 1972).

As of 2012, Australia’s east coast humpback population was at 63% of the pre-whaling-era level. The west coast population had bounced back to 90%. Australian humpback whale populations are increasing at remarkable rates: 9% a year for the west coast population and 10% a year for the east coast – the fastest documented increases worldwide.

A recent global assessment of humpback whales suggested that nine populations from around the world (including the east and west Australian populations) are no longer at risk of extinction. This is to be expected when exploitation through commercial whaling is replaced with conservation legislation (both in Australia and worldwide). Though we don’t quite fully understand the biological forces driving this extraordinary population increase, it’s fair to say that the removal of the dominant negative human pressure has been a huge factor.

On the rise: humpback whale populations are rebounding at a startling rate. Ari S. Friedlaender (under NMFS permit), Author provided
Click to enlarge

We believe that conservation biologists have a responsibility to protect species that are in peril by providing a sound, scientific basis for effective management. It therefore follows that we also have a responsibility to present information on recovering populations. The listing of threatened species under the EPBC Act is a dynamic process that is periodically assessed to determine the most appropriate management actions – so if species no longer needs to be on the list we should say so.

The future challenge will be to protect a marine environment that contains growing humpback whale populations and to develop alternative approaches to ecological sustainability. The history of environmental protection is based on saving depleted species, with very little guidance on how to manage recovering and recovered ones.

If humpback whales are downlisted from the threatened species list, the EPBC Act would still protect them from significant impacts because migratory species are deemed under the Act to be nationally significant. Beyond Australia, the International Whaling Commission manages the global moratorium on commercial whaling, which is essential for the humpback whales’ recovery to continue.

Management efforts must now balance the need to ensure humpback whale growth and recovery within a marine environment that is also expanding with industrial and exploration activities. There will be increases in interactions with ocean users, including acoustic disturbance from noise, collisions with vessels, entanglements in fishing gear, habitat destruction from coastal development, and interactions with the whale-watching industry. It will be vital to gain public support to help maintain the growth and recovery of Australian humpback whales and prevent future population declines.

Ocean optimism

The recovered humpback whale population could bring a positive shift in scientific research throughout Australia. If Australian humpback whales are removed from the list of threatened species, one of the most beneficial consequences could be the reprioritisation of research and funding to support other species that are at a greater risk.

Hopefully, other animal species such as the threatened blue whale, the understudied Australian snubfin and Australian humpback dolphins might get the same chance of scientific scrutiny that has been afforded to humpback whales.

For the first time in more than a generation, Australia’s iconic humpback whales have become a symbol of both hope and optimism for marine conservation, providing a unique opportunity to celebrate successful scientific and management actions that protect marine species. Optimism in conservation biology (which even has its own social media hashtag, #OceanOptimism) is essential to encourage politicians and the public to solve conservation problems.

Around the world, many marine mammal populations remain in peril, and conservation biologists should not detract from these cases. But we should still highlight the successes, as they provide hope that ongoing conservation actions can prevail. Ultimately, inspirational examples such as humpback whales can motivate people to use ocean resources wisely and to take sustainable and effective actions to safeguard marine wildlife for the future.

Related links:

Embracing conservation success of recovering humpback whale populations: Evaluating the case for downlisting their conservation status in Australia, Marine Policy review

Attention whale watchers: scientists want your snaps

 

New marine facility at Waterman’s Bay to put WA in the lead

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Life and the environment in and around the Waterman’s Bay shoreline on Perth’s northern beaches will soon be available to explore in real-time with an ambitious project to couple observations from the seafloor, sea surface and the atmosphere, and link scientists with the public and industry.

Project coordinator Dr Jeff Hansen from The University of Western Australia’s Ocean’s Institute and School of Earth and Environment has a penchant for the physical side of life, surf zone currents and sediment transport, but he believes the new Waterman’s Bay Nearshore Observatory could be used to explore much more, from conducting experiments relating to marine chemistry to monitoring marine life and collecting long-term records of ocean properties.

Dr Hansen said the location of the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (IOMRC) Waterman’s Bay Facility directly on the water’s edge presents a tremendous opportunity to study and monitor the surrounding ocean.

“The building provides a unique platform from which we can collect a vast range of observations in real-time” he said. 

A key element of the observatory is that all data, real-time and archived, will be made available free online. In addition to providing data relevant to individual scientists, the observatory will supply information needed to make decisions relating to marine safety, coastal zone management, and marine resource management, as well as providing data to the public for recreational and educational purposes.

“We’re trying to cast a broad net and invite industry partners who may have a range of applications for the observatory infrastructure” Dr Hansen said. “We want to design the observatory infrastructure to be as flexible as possible to meet the requirements of a wide variety of users for many years to come.”  

The project, a major new initiative proposed by the UWA Oceans Institute and the IOMRC partners, will provide a new undersea observatory facility to be used for fundamental oceanographic research, monitoring the physical, chemical, and biological process occurring in Perth’s metropolitan coastal waters, and for marine technology development and trials.

It will include a range of infrastructure and instrumentation that will enable remote control of instruments and monitoring of data streams. The observations delivered by the facility will provide a detailed view of the coastal ocean, unrivalled elsewhere in Australia, while supplying a diversity of data relevant to science, marine safety, coastal management, industry, and to the public.

The project has been planned in two stages: in Phase 1 the roof of the newly refurbished Waterman’s Bay facility will be equipped with a weather station and seaward-directed video camera to provide continuous images of sea state and hourly georeferenced shorelines of the adjacent beach. These observations will be coupled with wave, water level and temperature measurements collected by a submerged sensor about 150 metres off the beach connected by a cable running into the building.

Phase 2 (subject to funding) is the installation of an eight kilometre fibre optic and power cable from the facility out to a depth of 25 metres that will support more than 100 underwater instruments  in addition to a directional wave buoy that will provide real time observations of sea state. 

Bathymetric chart of the Waterman’s Bay Marine Centre facility region, showing the proposed locations of the Observatory undersea nodes (red starts) and buoy (yellow circle), and approximate cable-run (dashed line).

“The most ambitious part of the project is getting the cable from the building to eight kilometres offshore ” Dr Hansen said. 

Prior to coming to UWA, Dr Hansen worked in the US including at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“A lot of other marine laboratories around the world have undersea observatories and they have proven to be an extremely powerful resource for community engagement and research,” he said.

Interested parties, from all sectors and organisations, are invited to contact Jeff Hansen at the UWA Oceans Institute with expressions of interest in this initiative.

“By providing information about envisaged usage, we will be able to design the infrastructure to meet the requirements of the maximum number of stakeholders,” Dr Hansen said.

The project anticipates that access to the Waterman’s Bay Facility for the installation of the weather station and video camera will be possible in the coming months. The Phase 1 undersea instrumentation is expected to be up and running by early next year.

Coral embryos make next-gen mucous cocoons

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By Gerard Ricardo, UWA

The phenomenon we call ‘coral spawning’ actually involves five primary early life-history stages, from the release of the egg-sperm bundle, fertilisation, embryogenesis, larval development until finally settlement – each with their own challenges to the impacts of sediment.

The development of the coral embryo occurs on the water’s surface and lasts about 36 hours from the point of fertilisation until the larvae become free-swimming. During this time, the embryos are part of a coral spawn slick, a buoyant slurry of sperm, fertilised and decomposing unfertilised eggs…it gives a smell that takes a while to get used to.

When we exposed the embryos to suspended sediment, we noticed an interesting response that took us a bit by surprise. The embryos cocooned themselves in a mucous sac which sunk to the bottom of the chamber. Within the confines of safety, the embryo maintained development until ciliation (fine-like hairs used for swimming). When the larvae were moved to clean sediment-free water, the larvae could be seen rotating within the cocoon and eventually would rupture and emerge from it – hardly a beautiful butterfly but amazing nonetheless.

Scanning electron micrographs of the mucous cocoon. Coloured backscatter image of an embryo with part of the mucous cocoon removed (left). Orange = sediment, purple = embryo and mucus. Inset A) Mucous web observed under secondary electron mode B) Sediment grains observed under backscatter electron mode.

Once ciliated, the larvae seem to pretty capable of deflecting sediment grains with their new energy-efficient brooms, but while they are embryos, mucous cocooning maybe the only mechanism they have to protect against abrasive and sticky sediment grains. Overall, early-life stages of corals can be very sensitive to sediment, but for these two development stages, mucous cocooning and cilia beating bring a welcome reprieve.

The progression of the coral embryos through the cocoon formation stage

 

 

Ricardo GF, Jones RJ, Clode PL, Negri AP (2016) Mucous Secretion and Cilia Beating Defend Developing Coral Larvae from Suspended Sediments. PLoS ONE 11(9): e0162743. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162743

 

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

Lost coastline found in WA Department of Transport

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Over the years government agencies, and industry for that matter, amass a huge amount of survey information in the process of completing individual projects. It’s information that invariably never sees the light of day again. But one project team working with the Department of Transport (DoT), Fremantle has brought together an extraordinary online picture of how the Western Australian coastline has changed over the last 140 years.

The Managing Coastal Vulnerability Project (MCV) project manager Ralph Talbot-Smith and his team have spent the last 18 months organising some of the Department’s maritime spatial information into coherent and cohesive datasets that work for researchers, managers and the general public.

Lost coastline: Jurien Bay Coastline Movements 1875-2000

“What we’re finding is everything is related to everything,” Mr Talbot-Smith said. “The coastline changes a huge amount over a short period of time.  Although some records date back to 1875, the majority start from the 1940s and even from then you can still see changes in the undulating coastline, some places a lot greater than others.

“The coastline changes but probably the habitat changes as well. So a change in seagrass beds may be related to coastline changes but unless we have this in data available we can’t make those comparisons. The Department of Transport has opened up this door and people are starting see the importance and the potential.

Coastline Movements 1941-2009 along Geographe Bay Road, Busselton

“The biggest dataset was the Hydrographic Bathymetric data which took six months to convert 1000 DoT surveys to a standard horizontal datum. Then we converted all surveys from individual chart datum’s to AHD and retained survey metadata before loading it into the Bathymetric Information System (BIS), which is software supplied by ESRI,” Mr Talbot-Smith said.

There are seven data sets that have been compiled over the last 18 months. Now the MCV project team is moving on to do the same job at the WA Department of Parks and Wildlife.

“We’ve tried to future proof the data so that if systems change, the transfer of information is going to be easy,” Mr Talbot-Smith said. “We have also provided detailed documentation and training to the data custodians on the procedures to update and maintain the datasets.”

Ralph Talbot-Smith is now advocating for a central information hub for Coastal & Marine habitats to be established at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre where agencies can have:

  • Individual datasets that can be updated as sampling is expanded.
  • Access to other participants’ data and linked to video and photos in the same hub.
  • Stored data collected by Lidar or multibeam with reflectance and backscatter information.
  • The ability to eventually consolidate combined habitat determinations.

“It’s an idea that, in this resource poor economic climate, makes a lot of sense,” Mr Talbot-Smith said. “It also follows along the Blueprint for Marine Science 2050 direction for a central knowledge hub. I believe it could advance the amount of habitat information and provide 10-times what we have now for Western Australia.”

Hydrographic-Bathymetric Survey

MCV is administered by the Western Australian Land Information System (WALIS) Marine Group as part of the WA Government’s $23-million Location Information Strategy (LIS).  One of the key elements of the LIS is to facilitate access to spatial data through the State’s Shared Location Information Platform (SLIP) with a view that improved information access and simplified distribution is a key component to providing better decision making for the benefit of all West Australians.

Further information:

WAMSI Presentation: Managing Coastal Vulnerability (MCV) Project DoT Fremantle – Marine Data Available Online:  PowerPoint presentation presented by Ralph Talbot-Smith 20th July 2015

Focus on northern aquaculture industry

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Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia met in Broome and Perth in June as part of its investigation into opportunities to expand the aquaculture industry in Northern Australia.

Aquaculture is the farming of captive-bred stock or naturally occurring juveniles of wild caught stocks and it is Australia’s fastest growing primary industry, accounting for 34 per cent of total gross value of seafood production.

The inquiry follows findings and recommendations in the committee’s Pivot North Report that the Government facilitate the development of the aquaculture industry in Northern Australia by improving the regulatory framework.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation identified about 594,000 hectares in Queensland, 528,000 hectares in the Northern Territory, and 516,000 hectares in Western Australia as being suitable for aquaculture.

“This is an area greater than the combined land area of Brisbane, Darwin and Perth and demonstrates there is significant potential for farming sea and freshwater products along coastal regions of Northern Australia,” Committee Chair, the Hon Warren Entsch MP said

The Western Australian Government recently announced the creation of the Kimberley Aquaculture Development Zone.

“This initiative has the potential to boost aquaculture on the north west of Australia, and improve employment opportunities in the Kimberley region,” Mr Entsch said.

Pearl farmers, local shires and the Kimberley Training Institute’s Aquaculture Centre gave evidence at the hearings in Broome while companies and organisations with an interest in the Kimberley Aquaculture Development Zone presented to the committee in Perth.

OEPA Marine Ecosystems Manager and WAMSI Dredging Science Node Leader Ray Masini fronted the committee in Perth representing Environmental Protection Authority Chairman Paul Vogel.

“The Committee was very interested in the work of WAMSI generally, and in particular the Kimberley Node, which will provide important contextual information to support strategic planning in this important part of northern Australia. This was a perfect opportunity to table the Blueprint for Marine Science 2050 focussing on the research needs identified for the aquaculture sector developed through extensive stakeholder consultation,” Dr Masini said.

In response to the meetings, Northern Australia Committee deputy chair Alannah MacTiernan said, “Science needs a full seat at the table in planning for aquaculture in northern Australia.”

“There is enormous potential for further development of an aquaculture industry in the North West, but what is clear is that we need to embrace science and research to ensure we get the optimum result,” the deputy chair said.

Hearing programs are available at www.aph.gov.au/jscna

Sponges choose enigma over charisma

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While sea sponges may not be as charismatic as corals, an industry funded WAMSI project is finding their strength may lie in their resilience to change.

One of the most important roles of the sponge is providing habitat for vertebrate and invertebrate species, but one of the most impressive is its ability to filter huge volumes of water – a one kilogram sponge can filter more than 20,000 litres of sea water every day. It makes them a critical link between what’s happening in the benthic environment (the ecological region at the very bottom of the sea) and what happens in the pelagic zone (mid to surface region).

Because they have a big influence on what’s happening around them, a team of researchers at the Australian Institute for Marine Science (AIMS) led by Dr Nicole Webster is testing their sensitivity to reductions in water quality.

Mari Carmen Pineda monitoring sponges in the AIMS SeaSim lab

“Field surveys of the filter feeding communities in the Pilbara region led by Drs Jane Fromont and Christine Schoenberg really highlighted the amazing diversity and abundance of sponges,” Dr Webster said. “It has confirmed that sponges are the dominant filter feeders.”

“This project is looking at sponges of different species, different morphologies and different nutritional strategies to see how they respond to the various dredging related pressures,” she said.

Little is understood about the effects of dredging pressures on sponges. However, some of the known effects include bleaching or the loss of photosynthetic microbes from low light conditions, clogging of their aquiferous systems from high levels of suspended solids or complete burial or smothering of the sponges due to high rates of sedimentation.

Sponge filtration capability

The sponge’s aquiferous system is made up of channels and small chambers lined with specialised cells (choanocytes) that create currents of water and retain nutritive particles.

It’s quite well known that sponges can reduce their pumping activity in response to high levels of particulates in the sea water, but how long they can maintain that reduction in pumping activity before their energy reserves, which they need for growth and reproduction, become entirely depleted is not yet known.

Dr Mari-Carmen Pineda and PhD student Brian Strethlow are testing the sponges under controlled conditions in the AIMS National Sea Simulator (SeaSim) to define cause/effect relationships to the dredging related pressures of light attenuation, sedimentation (smothering) and elevated suspended sediments (clogging).

Carteriospongia foliascens with  mucus and sediment layer sloughing
Cliona orientalis with brittle star inside its osculum cleaning the sediments

“To determine the sponge stress response we measure a whole suite of health parameters in our experimental animals including: changes to respiration rates, bleaching or loss of symbiotic microbes, changes to sponge pumping activity and cellular necrosis,” Dr Pineda said.

“Overall we are finding that sponges seem largely tolerant of short term dredging-related pressures and that light and suspended sediments on their own do not cause severe stress in the short time (days),” she said. “Sponges also demonstrate an array of different mechanisms for coping with sedimentation, such as the development of new oscula (exhalent pores), sediment sloughing and removal of sediment from the aquiferous canals by infauna

Coscinoderma matthewsi with open osculla through the sediment layer

such as brittle stars. “

“On the other hand, long-term exposure (>2 weeks) to dark conditions and high levels of suspended sediments (>30 mg/L), seems to have an impact on growth rates and symbiotic microbes, although most sponges can recover once conditions return to normal.

“Overall, cup shaped sponge morphologies and phototrophic species (ie those that rely on photosynthetic microbial symbionts for nutrition) are the most sensitive to dredging related impacts, and some of them do not possess the ability to recover,” Dr Pineda said.

The SeaSim experiments will add to data gathered from pre-dredging surveys by divers and towed video. The field surveys are also due to be repeated in July post-dredging off Onslow to determine what changes have occurred and how this can be applied to management of dredging operations in the future.

This research was funded by Woodside, Chevron, BHP and WAMSI partners

 

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

Exploring innovation to monitor the humpback whale

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As the annual humpback whale migration begins from the Antarctic to the Kimberley coast, one WAMSI project, working to model their spatial distribution, is looking to combine satellite imagery and bathymetric LiDAR (Laser or Light Detection and Ranging) for the first time as an efficient and safe means to monitor these giants of the sea.

The number of humpback whales travelling the coast of Australia from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic to their breeding grounds in the Kimberley has increased from around 300 in 1963 to some 30,000 today since hunting was outlawed.

The challenge now for lead researcher on the WAMSI project Michele Thums, from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, is to map habitats that are important to them when they are on their breeding grounds in the Kimberley which, in turn, could help to manage marine park boundaries and the potential to overlap with human activities such as boating and industry.

“We already understand quite a lot – timing of the migration, spatial extent of the calving area, and general distribution of migrating whales but there has been very little attempt to bring this data together and synthesise it to get a quantitative understanding of their habitat requirements and the specific habitats that breeding humpbacks rely on,” Dr Thums said.

The project is analysing data from some of the extensive aerial and vessel line transect surveys gathered over the last 25 years mostly on behalf of industry. This study is predominantly relying on data released by WAMSI research collaborator Curt Jenner, Inpex and Woodside.

“It’s very expensive to do these surveys,” Dr Thums said. “Collecting data from aerial and boat surveys is especially prohibitive in the Kimberley because it is so remote. So we’re fortunate to get access to this rich source of data collected by industry as part of their legislative requirements to operate.”

In September the project team is going to take an opportunity to head out into the field and test the reliability of monitoring whales using a scanning laser fixed to an aircraft that is capable of generating precise 3-dimensional information about the characteristics on the earth’s surface (bathymetric LiDAR system), in this case whales.

“We’re still developing this project but, if successful, it doesn’t require observers on the flight, so it’s safer and it could still allow us to analyse the data later to count the whales,” Dr Thums said. “We’re also hoping to get satellites tasked to capture high resolution images so we can compare the satellite data with LiDAR and, if it’s a good match, we might be able to rely on monitoring the Kimberley humpback whales with satellite in the future.”

The findings for the WAMSI Humpback project are expected to be released by early next year.

Related articles:

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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. 

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Kimberley Marine Research Program

Marine ecosystems considered in Kimberley survey

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A multi-disciplinary team is closely monitoring the Kimberley’s coastal and estuarine environment to better understand how present levels of organic nitrogen and carbon play a role in sustaining marine productivity.

A team of Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) collaborators from CSIRO, the University of Western Australia and The Australian Institute of Marine Science made two boat trips from King Sound to Walcott Inlet to identify information needed for monitoring water flow in the region.

The aim was to understand the role of organic materials in coastal ecosystems in order to safeguard the ecosystems against climate change and commercial development.

The project, led by CSIRO researcher Andy Revill, combined expertise in climate science and catchment rainfall-runoff modeling to better understand how inshore environments are sustained by terrestrial carbon and nutrient sources.

“It is pretty obvious the rivers are higher in nitrogen than the coastal environments,” Dr Revill says.

“One of the things we need to work out is where this organic nitrogen is actually coming from and what sort of transformations occur to this material.”

Future developments may upset delicate balance

While the Kimberley is among the most pristine environments in Australia, abundant water and energy resources will likely be developed in the near future which may have important implications for linked river, estuarine and inshore environments.

“We want to know what happens to material that is brought in with those fresh water streams and what role it will play in coastal production,” Dr Revill says.

He says the team worked on collecting critical information on linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems to find ways of minimising the impacts of climate change, catchment development and commercial or recreational fishing.

They collected data to estimate the annual freshwater run-off from rivers to coasts and the amount of organic matter supplied from the land to the coast.

They did this via a series of transects and measurements in the 40km-long Walcott Inlet.

Dr Revill says they monitored materials and water move through the inlet’s mouth.

“There was a big lag of tides between inside and outside which led to very large water movements in short spaces of time,” he says.

He says current data suggests an increased amount of land materials will start to move upstream.

The project team also had a sediment grab on board to monitor river and ocean bed material.

“We wanted to get a handle on how much material is coming off the catchment versus in-situ production,” Dr Revill says.

 

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Kimberley Marine Research Program