Marine

This month something particularly exciting washed up on Lagoon beach in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park (LHIMP) – a small cuttlefish which had died in recent storms. It was found by visiting researcher Sally Montgomery, and represents the first animal of a Lord Howe Island cuttlefish ever studied.

The future of the Weipa Billfish Club appears to be bright if the results from the club’s annual major tournament are any indication ... The 2022 Hastings Deering Weipa Billfish Tournament attracted 54 anglers in 16 boats, comprising five juniors, 10 women and 39 men.

When English historian, Derek Neville, was researching letters written by David Blackburn, navigator and ‘master’ of the First Fleet vessel Supply, he was disappointed to discover that the small island in the Lagoon at Lord Howe had lost its original name – ‘Blackburn Isle’. This name had been given to it by Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball in March, 1788, when the very first landing was made at Lord Howe.

New fishery management arrangements for Spanish mackerel will be introduced from October this year, helping to restore depleted stocks and protect good jobs in the fishing industry for generations to come. The changes will mean two three-week closed seasons in waters off the state’s north starting in October 2022, and two three-week closed seasons in southern waters starting in February 2023.

Marine ecosystems and coastal communities will benefit from increased investment and restoration projects as a result of the new NSW Blue Carbon Strategy ... “The simplest way to understand blue carbon is to liken it to underwater forests – just as trees store carbon, marine and coastal plants and ecosystems do too, except even more efficiently” : Minister for Environment, James Griffin.

Offshore wind turbines are getting bigger every year, a trend that already helps offshore wind reduce costs all over the world. Whilst recent research suggests that costs will continue to dip as wind turbines get bigger and are deployed further offshore, the challenges to the design of the floating platform that supports the wind turbine increase.

Asparagopsis is a native Australian seaweed rich in bromoform. It’s the bromoform compound within the seaweed feed supplement that reduces livestock methane emissions by up to 98 per cent. So why isn’t Asparagopsis a commodity of large scale? One of the key issues is its availability; but one scientist is on the brink of a discovery which could drive a surge in demand for this seaweed biomass.

Ian Hutton. As Curator of the museum, I get a lot of requests via email ... However, in May of this year, I received a most unusual email. A journalist from New Zealand contacted me asking if I considered the photo of a stuffed white bird seen in an antique shop there was the long-extinct flightless White gallinule of Lord Howe Island.

Turtles are a key environmental value and attraction for both tourists and residents in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park ... Given marine turtles are valuable and threatened species, understanding both local and global threats to their populations is important. Injured and dead turtles are occasionally seen in the LHIMP and these observations can help identify which threats are having the greatest impact on turtles in the marine park.

Pilbara Ports Authority and Yara have signed a collaboration agreement for a feasibility study into ammonia bunkering in the Pilbara ... an important step on the path towards a net zero shipping industry and will assess potential demand, feasibility, infrastructure requirements, safety considerations and the establishment of ammonia bunkering guidelines.

Citizen science has made an important contribution to an FRDC-funded project to predict the impact of climate change on three fish species of increasing recreational and commercial importance in Tasmania ... Data from the project was gathered from several sources, including fish frames (skeletons) donated by recreational fishers at 16 drop off points around Tasmania, which yielded 801 frames in the 24 months to July 2021. Frames were also donated by commercial fishers and fish processors.

A trial using oyster spats from an Albany Hatchery is assessing if the water conditions of Wilson Inlet will support the growth of native flat oysters. Aquaculturist Zak Launay said conditions created with the 'exceptional opening' of Wilson Inlet last year had created a level of salinity suited to the growing of oysters.

Rodney Stevens. As the Clarence Valley was bathed in warming winter sun last week, Associate Professor Hannah Power was relishing the conditions more than 20 kilometres offshore, sampling the seafloor for signs of tsunami potential. Dr Power was among a team of 32 scientists and university students who were in Clarence Coast waters over the past week in CSIRO Research Vessel Investigator, mapping the ocean floor to investigate the East Coast tsunami risk.

The cuttlefish have arrived, which means it’s time to celebrate with Cuttlefest 2022! Cuttlefest is a three month festival of events and activations happening in and around Whyalla to celebrate the annual congregation of the Giant Australian Cuttlefish.

New research by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, shows Australian coastal plastic pollution has decreased by 29 per cent, the surprise discovery revealed as part of a broader project assessing waste reduction efforts.

Today, on World Oceans Day, the Minister for Fisheries joined representatives from the Western Australia Fishing Industries Council and the Marine Stewardship Council to award Rare Foods Australia (RFA) internationally recognised status as a Wild Sustainable Fishery. This achievement by RFA, which operates the world's first abalone ranch near Augusta, becomes another of WA's sustainable fisheries success stories.

Loved for both their great taste and awesome sport fishing, the yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) is one of Australia’s most economically important fish species. Despite their importance, little is known about the species’ large-scale movements, fine-scale population structure or behaviours ... Project Kingfish aims to deploy satellite transmitters on mature-sized kingfish across the NSW east coast and key offshore habitats such as the Lord Howe Island Marine Park to gain further insights ...

Dr Jennifer Lavers. Since 2007, the Adrift Lab research team based in Tasmania has been fortunate to visit Lord Howe Island in Apr/May to study plastics ingested by two mutton-bird species, Wedge-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters. The database contains a wealth of information on the origin of items (e.g., bottle caps, balloon clips) and amount consumed by each bird species. Over time, it’s become one of the longest-running plastic monitoring programs in the world (certainly in the Southern Hemisphere).

Two new studies led by Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS, UTAS) scientists provide an approach for accurately assessing the carbon storage capability of seaweed before it is factored into carbon offset initiatives, and highlight the need for further research into the impact of extending seaweed forests offshore into oceanic ecosystems.

Sunshine Coast Council will start coastal protection works on Stage 2 of the Maroochy Groyne Field Renewal project next week to help shield the Cotton Tree foreshore from the current and future impacts of coastal erosion.

Dave Donald. While anti-fishing groups have long been opposed to recreational fishing, to claim they have colluded in a major way to “slash Spanish mackerel quotas” is a fabrication. Seeking to lay the blame for the depletion of Spanish mackerel stocks solely on Labor is another furphy as exceptionally poor fisheries management under BOTH major parties essentially created the current situation.