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Media Release
Australian-Indonesian project to improve
aquaculture
in coastal environments
Australian and Indonesian scientists are developing ways to address
environmental concerns regarding the Asia-Pacific cage fish industry.
The project, led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science
(AIMS), is a joint collaboration between eight Australian and
Indonesian agencies. The goal of the program is to produce guidelines
for building sustainable cage fish farms in Indonesia (the world’s 2nd
largest aquaculture producer), Australia and other tropical regions.
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Media Release
Census of Marine Life, Highlights 2006
Frontiers of Marine Science Stretched by Census
Experts
Scientists intrigued by life around
hottest-ever seafloor vent;
Manhattan-sized school of herring off New Jersey coast;
More new than familiar species in Antarctic-area trawl
A host of record-breaking discoveries and revelations that stretch
the extreme frontiers of marine knowledge were achieved by the Census
of Marine Life in 2006, highlights of which were released today.
They include life adapted to brutal conditions around 407ºC fluids
spewing from a seafloor vent (the hottest ever discovered), a mighty
microbe 1 cm in diameter, mysterious 1.8 kg (4 lb) lobsters off the
Madagascar coast, a US school of herring the size of Manhattan Island,
and more unfamiliar than familiar species turned up beneath 700 meters
of Antarctic ice.
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Media Release
AIMS tightens belt due to rising cost of research
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) announced today
its decision to cut staff by seven positions. The redundancies, which
were announced at a staff meeting this morning, will be finalised
after discussions with affected staff over the next week and will
include cuts in both science and support areas.
AIMS CEO Dr Ian Poiner says that while new systems were
implemented, staff and resources were redeployed, and every possible
effort was made to streamline operations, staff reductions were the
only option to allow AIMS to operate within its current budget and to
avoid larger scale problems in the future.
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Media Release
Shallow water corals killed by rainstorm
The combination of a moderate rainstorm and an extremely low tide
has caused mass mortality in shallow water corals around the Keppel
Islands.
Corals living on the reef flat were high and dry at around 2 am on
November 4th when a patchy rainstorm bathed the exposed
reef with 17-30 mm of fresh water.
Scientists from the Australian
Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) surveyed numerous reefs around the
islands and found that the bulk of the damage was localised to areas
where shallow reefs fell within the path of the storm.
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Media Release
Great Barrier Reef damaged by
severe tropical cyclone Larry
Tropical cyclone Larry, which severely devastated an 80 km stretch
along North Queensland’s coast, also had an impact on the coral reefs
in its path.
Scientists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
have returned from completing comprehensive surveys of 305 sites on 20
coral reefs within the impact zone of cyclone Larry. They found that
damage caused by the category five cyclone was extremely patchy and
was the greatest just south of Larry’s path.
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Media Release
New
Species and New Records of Marine Species Discovered in
the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument
A three-week scientific expedition to
French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine
National Monument returned to Honolulu on Sunday with the discovery of
many new species and a better understanding of marine biodiversity in
the Hawaiian Archipelago.
An all-star team of world-renowned
taxonomists (biologists specializing in identifying and naming
organisms) and an experienced support crew collected and photographed
many species that they cannot identify and are thought to be new
species to science.
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Media Release
Leading-edge marine research vessel to be built
The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the
Hon Julie Bishop MP and Mr Peter Lindsay, the Federal Member for
Herbert, today announced that the Australian Institute of Marine
Science (AIMS) has commissioned Tenix Defence Systems Pty Ltd to build
a state-of-the-art research vessel.
The RV Solander will be built by Tenix to
replace the RV Lady Basten which will be retired after 30 years
of service.
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Media Release
Marine scientists go public about their research
Marine scientists from the new Arafura Timor Research
Facility on the Charles Darwin University campus will detail key
research projects in a public forum on September 25.
The ATRF has become a major centre for research into
marine life, fish stocks, the environmental impact of recreational
fishing and even the effects of illegal fishing in Australian waters
since it was officially opened last year.
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Fishy business – Scientists and
fishermen work together
to maintain shark stocks
Sharks play a vital role in keeping our seas healthy,
but how they are coping with legal and illegal harvests in northern
Australia is not fully understood.
Northern Territory scientists have recently started a
three-year study into the sustainability of shark fishing in
Australia's northern waters. Although the domestic fishery is small
and well-managed, there are far greater potential threats from the
increasing illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishery invading
Australian waters each year.
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Release
State-of-the art airborne imaging completes
first digital map
of Ningaloo Marine Park
A precision aerial image survey has captured a broadband spectral
signature of the entire Ningaloo Marine Park at a fine scale. The
successful mission is now providing a definitive and complete
database, which will support accurate digital mapping and measurement
of the Marine Parks nearshore environments.
This advanced technology survey, called hyperspectral imaging,
covered 3400km2 along the length of Ningaloo Marine Park
and sets a high benchmark for future marine science outcomes to flow
from a research partnership between the Australian Institute of Marine
Science (AIMS) and BHP Billiton, to be officially announced today in
Perth.
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Release
Fish Surveys Demonstrate Benefit
Of
New Reef Zoning Plan
The AIMS Long-term Monitoring Team has been monitoring the health
of reefs in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area for more than a
decade.
Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science have
surveyed 100 reefs each year for the last 15 years to track the
impacts and recovery of coral reefs from disturbances such as
cyclones, bleaching events, crown-of-thorns starfish, and coral
disease, within an area larger than England.
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New Guinea's remote reefs get
Aussie health check
A team of Australian scientists will survey the remote reefs in the
northern Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea so we can better understand
the marine life of our closest neighbour and help protect it.
"We are surveying one of the richest marine environments on our
planet so we are looking forward to making some amazing discoveries,"
says Dr Alison Green, Senior Marine Scientist with The Nature
Conservancy who is leading the survey. "Little is known about the
underwater life in this very remote part of the world which is
becoming increasingly significant as our marine regions are more
threatened."
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Crown-of-thorns starfish Alert
Reef scientists have a new strategy in a campaign to retard the
spread and impact of the crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier
Reef.
Researchers from the AIMS Great Barrier Reef Long-term Monitoring
Team will conduct special surveys of COTS populations on reefs in the
source area, north of Cairns to Cooktown, to provide an early warning
of another noxious wave of the coral eating pest.
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Scientists warn of serious environmental
harm in Asia Pacific harbours
In the new book The Environment in Asia Pacific Harbours,
published by Springer in The Netherlands, 60 leading scientists in the
Asia Pacific region have described serious socio-economic and
environmental problems at ports and harbours of mega-cities in their
respective countries.
Editor Dr Eric Wolanski, FTSE, FIE Aust, a coastal oceanographer
and a leading scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science
said ports and harbours are the essential gateways through which all
shipping traffic pass and they are under ever-increasing pressure to
expand, and to work more efficiently.
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Ningaloo Marine Park’s riches run
deep
Spectacular sponge gardens discovered in offshore
sanctuaries
A pioneering survey of the Ningaloo Research Program
has discovered rich marine life in the deeper waters of Western
Australia’s Ningaloo Marine Park, unveiling spectacular sponge gardens
with large specimens weighing up to 60 kilograms, some of which are
likely to be new to science.
Ningaloo Marine Park is famous for its pristine beaches and turquoise
lagoon waters that shelter behind fringing reefs, but a voyage of
discovery led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
shows the region’s breathtaking beauty goes much deeper.
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Turning on the marine sensor
network
A pilot digital monitoring network incorporating hundreds of
sensors around the world will be launched within months according to a
workshop of international scientists and engineers meeting in
Townsville today.
It is the first time that Australia has hosted the Coral Reef
Environmental Observatory Network CREON, which is a collaborating
association of specialists from around the world striving to design
and build marine sensor networks.
AIMS spatial analyst Stuart Kininmonth said it is hoped the first
stage of the much-anticipated network will be installed across an area
of 400 kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef - Davies Reef, Magnetic
Island, Heron Island and Orpheus Island.
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Fantasea Cruises’ new onboard
radiometer
will aid vital climate research
Whitsundays-based Fantasea Cruises and the Australian Institute of
Marine Science (AIMS) will today launch a unique on-board radiometer
that will sample sea surface temperatures critical to coral bleaching
and climate research.
Perched above the bridge of Fantasea One, the automated
radiometer custom-built by AIMS enables scientists to be updated on
sea surface temperatures (SST) while they are working hundreds of
kilometres away in their laboratories at Cape Ferguson (near
Townsville).
A radiometer is a thermometer, which measures the temperature of
the ocean using the infra-red radiation (heat) emitted from the
surface.
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Release
Joint AIMS and
CSIRO media release
Snapshot of life
deep in the Great Barrier Reef
After more than 300 days at sea, scientists have begun compiling a
rich picture of seabed life across the length and breadth of
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
They are processing 15,000 plant and animal samples, 2000 sediment
samples, 2200 hours of video footage and 140 gigabytes of echo-sounder
data from almost 1400 sites on the continental shelf.
This vast, underwater snapshot has been gathered during 10 voyages
by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F)
research vessel, Gwendoline May, and the Australian Institute
of Marine Science (AIMS) vessel, Lady Basten.
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Keeping an eye on the Keppels
The bleaching observed by marine researchers and tourist operators
on reefs in the Capricorn region confirmed the AIMS/GBRMPA weather
station data that show sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in this area
are well above critical levels for normal coral function. SSTs in the
Keppels have been hovering 2 degrees C above the average since early
December, and this sustained warm period caused temperature-sensitive
corals to reach bleaching thresholds as early as Christmas. AIMS
scientist and a world authority on coral bleaching, Dr Ray Berkelmans
said "This is up to a month earlier than we’ve seen in previous
bleaching events in 1998 and 2002. Since there is still a long way to
go this summer, these conditions do not bode well for reefs in the
Keppels".
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Scientists to study coral reefs worldwide:
Marine Scientists Going Down for the Count
Three world-class oceanographic research institutions today
announced a collaboration to conduct a global census of coral reef
ecosystems aimed at estimating the numbers of reef species and
determining their vulnerability to human stressors. Scientists at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Australian Institute of
Marine Science (AIMS), and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science
Center (PIFSC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) will participate in this unprecedented global census of coral
reefs (CReefs), one of 17 projects of the Census of Marine Life, a
global network of researchers in more than 70 nations engaged in a
10-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution,
and abundance of marine life in the oceans.
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