JUly 2024 news
Welcome to the July issue of the Great Southern Reef Foundation's monthly newsletter. This month we are thrilled to share with you Sea Country stories, spider crab science, monitoring updates plus a sneak peek of our new documentary White Rock.
Influencing Change in Sea Country Education
To celebrate NAIDOC week, we have released a new article, video and audio bites which embarks on a journey to explore how teachers can enrich their curricula by integrating First Nations perspectives, with special insights from Emmalene Richards, a proud Barngarla woman from Port Lincoln.
“This is a call for a transformation in how we view and teach about our interconnectedness with Australia’s oceans”
Spider Crab Season!
What is it that drives people each year to plunge into the cold waters of Port Phillip Bay at the beginning of winter? Is it the glory of being the first to know that the annual army of crabs has arrived? The pride of documenting their chosen aggregation site? Or the hope that photos and observations might unlock the secrets behind this bizarre annual spectacle?
In this new video and article, learn about the aggregation and how citizen scientists are helping to understand this unique spectacle through Spider Crab Watch.
Dr. Elodie Camprasse, leader of the citizen science program Spider Crab Watch, isn't sure exactly why people do it, but she is eternally grateful for the dedicated volunteers who contribute to the project. Their efforts are vital, given how little we still know about these iconic animals beloved by the Great Southern Reef community [read more].
“Our understanding of the species is so basic. …we could be discovering just about anything.”
Impact Documentary Project: White Rock
The Great Southern Reef Foundation have embarked on a documentary showcasing solutions to Australia's urchin crisis. As a special treat for our newsletter subscribers, we want to share with you a sneak peak 1 minute teaser from the film.
We are almost finished the production phase of the film but still need financial support for post production and development. With your support, we can ensure the film has the much-needed impact to build political pressure and garner urgent support to tackle the urchin crisis.
“It’s unfathomable how many urchins are actually out there.”
Fish Monitoring in WA’s Marine Parks
The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) recently completed their triennial fish monitoring in the Ngari Capes and Jurien Bay Marine Parks. The team deployed over 300 Baited Remote Underwater Videos (BRUVs) across the general use and sanctuary zones of the two marine parks.
The data collected will contribute to the long-term monitoring of fish biodiversity, abundance, and biomass and both marine parks are situated on the Great Southern Reef. Long-term monitoring programs such as this are used to detect the impacts of key pressures on the reef and to assess the effectiveness of marine parks in reducing these pressures.
Click here to find out more about what DBCA is doing within the Ngari Capes Marine Park
Image: The BRUV footage captured many pregnant and juvenile Southern Fiddler Rays (Trygonorrhina dumerilii)
Future Proofing Reefs
Utilising 'green-gravel' technology, University of Western Australia's Wernberg Lab are taking warm-adapted kelps and innovating ways to spread them across the reef at scale to future-proof kelp forests. Watch this Innovation Nation TV segment featuring Dr Karen Filbee-Dexter. You can also lean more about future proofing kelp forests by reading our feature profile on geneticist Melinda Coleman.
“The challenge is really how we can scale up restoration.”
Reef Life Survey NSW: Annual Biodiversity Update
Reef Life Survey volunteers in New South Wales have recently completed their annual biodiversity surveys of Port Stephens' rocky reefs. In a massive effort from the local team, over 35,000 individual fish and invertebrate species were recorded, including huge numbers of Yellow-tail scad, a handful of inquisitive Grey nurse sharks, and even a couple of tropical visitors well south of their usual range.
The survey effort in NSW doesn't stop there, with a group training session scheduled for this October to train Batemans Bay locals in the RLS visual census survey methods. Surveys in the Batemans Bay Marine Park are a key monitoring tool and were first established in 2006, and we're steadily building up a local team of skilled SCUBA divers to keep these surveys going.
If you'd like to get involved with Reef Life Survey's efforts to survey the beautiful Great Southern Reef and beyond, please get in touch via enquiries@reeflifesurvey.com.
Feature Creator
Terence Tong only began freediving and taking videos and images about 4 years ago, but within a short timeframe posting online much of his content has gone viral, and he claims its the encounters with the creatures along the Great Southern Reef that capture the attention of his audience.
Terence has spent a long time following the cuttlefish while they are hunting and can confidently say that they often miss their prey. These missed opportunities have allowed Terence to study their behaviours and be even better prepared for his next cuttle-encounter [read more].
“Get in whenever you can, because the ocean always delivers!”
Kilometres for Kelp
Interested in a way that you can raise money for the Great Southern Reef Foundation's initiatives and get fit in the process? We have partnered with Grassrootz, Australia's leading community event fundraising platform to support our initiatives. We are currently affiliated with following upcoming fun runs.
