OCTOBER 2025
Welcome to the October edition of the Great Southern Reef newsletter. This month features new research from across the GSR, an update on South Australia’s ongoing algal bloom, fresh citizen science opportunities, and two new ocean-themed card games designed to spark curiosity and learning, plus a whole heap more.
SA's Harmful Algal Bloom - Spring Situation
In this new update by Marine Ecologist and Educator Janine Baker, we revisit South Australia’s ongoing harmful algal bloom (HAB) event that has persisted into mid-spring across parts of the State.
Since earlier updates in April and July, metropolitan Gulf St Vincent, parts of Yorke Peninsula, and western Spencer Gulf remain affected, while severely impacted areas such as southern Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, and the Encounter Coast that were severely impacted in autumn, are now heading towards the long, uncertain and largely undocumented process of recovery.
Image: Stargazer at Edithburgh by Troy JohnsonSize Matters: Predators and Urchins on NSW Reefs
New research from UNSW and the University of Tasmania reveals how predator size and diversity shape urchin control on New South Wales reefs. Led by Jessica Nguyen, the study found large male eastern blue gropers dominate urchin predation, while reefs with a richer mix of predator species see faster urchin removal.
Image (below): A large male eastern blue groper feeding on a tethered longspined urchin during the experiment. 
Read our feature on Jess' research and what it reveals about the delicate balance between predators, urchins, and kelp.
“I expected the eastern blue groper to eat urchins, but I didn’t anticipate it would dominate predation so clearly.”
White Rock at NSW Parliament
White Rock will be screened at the NSW Parliament next Wednesday, 15 October. Following the film, guest speakers will lead a discussion on the ecological and cultural emergency facing NSW Sea Country, the need for funding to support urchin removal, kelp restoration and long-term monitoring, and the importance of a NSW Indigenous Sea Country Partnership led by First Nations.
As part of our ongoing impact campaign screenings continue to roll out across the country. If you or your organisation would like to host a screening, you can register your interest here:
Scalable Solution for Giant Kelp Restoration
IMAS scientists have developed a scalable method to reseed giant kelp forests that have collapsed by up to 95% along eastern Tasmania.
The new holdfast-"graft" technique takes hatchery-reared juvenile kelp grown on twine and binds them directly into the holdfast stubs of other seaweeds. By giving the young kelp a stable anchor, survival and attachment rates were up to 40 times higher than twine tied to bare rock or seeded gravel approaches.
The method can now be deployed in under a minute per holdfast by trained divers. Within 9 months, the grafted kelp developed reproductive fronds. By 12 months, new self-recruitment was seen around restored patches, a sign of self-sustaining forest recovery.
Teams of scientists, commercial fishers, and recreational divers are now reseeding hectare-scale kelp forests across multiple sites in Tasmania using this approach. In our short film Reviving Giants, we captured this method underwater, showing how innovation and hands-on restoration can give these threatened underwater forests a future.
Image: The method showing seeded twine wrapped around the base of the holdfast and M. pyrifera overgrowth of the holdfast stub. more gsr news
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APRIL 2025
White Rock hits the road! With a sold-out Hobart launch, our Em-urchin-cy Tour is officially underway. Dive into updates on school resources, lobster recovery, sea lion science, climate-fuelled fish kills, and citizen-powered species tracking. Plus, new research reveals not all reef species are heading south. Let’s get into it.
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FEBRUARY 2025
Welcome to the February 2025 Newsletter. Packed with exciting updates, inspiring stories, and opportunities to get involved, this edition has something for everyone passionate about the Great Southern Reef.
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January 2025 news
Packed with exciting updates, inspiring stories, and opportunities to get involved, this edition has something for everyone passionate about the Great Southern Reef.
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december 2024
This issue includes an exclusive look at our collaboration with artist Amok Island, spotlighting a spectacular limited edition print featuring iconic GSR species.
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november 2024
In this issue, we celebrate the long-awaited launch of WA’s South Coast Marine Park, share important updates on the South-east Marine Park Draft Management Plan, and dive into research exploring cancer-fighting compounds in temperate sponges.
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October 2024
In this issue, we celebrate the launch of our new Teacher’s Guide for Ocean Literacy, share major milestones from Project Restore, and highlight recent developments in kelp restoration across Australia.
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september 2024
This month, we're offering a sneak peek into one of the Great Southern Reef’s most unique environments - Bathurst Channel. Plus and an exciting opportunity for teachers to trial some new school resources.
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august 2024
Exciting updates from from the final days of filming our urchin documentary White Rock, to the latest research, sealion mounted camera footage and insights from our GSR Research Partnership meeting in Hobart.
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july 2024
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.
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june 2024
In this month's issue and to celebrate the arrival of the Southern Right whales, we're thrilled to announce the release of our new film, Eye to Eye.
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may 2024
In this issue, we explore some urgent challenges facing the GSR as well as highlight promising developments and opportunities to get actively involved in caring for our precious kelp forests.
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The longspined sea urchin is native to New South Wales and eastern Victoria. But in 1978 the first animal was detected in Tasmania where it has since increased dramatically in numbers. The urchin arrived in Tasmania due to changes in ocean climate and ocean current conditions, specifically an increase in strength of the East Australian Current.
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White Rock is a 45-minute documentary uncovering an overlooked impact of the climate crisis: the explosion of longspined sea urchins which are devastating Australia's kelp forests. With stunning visuals and impactful storytelling, the film captures the urgent threat to these ecosystems and presents tangible solutions to save them.
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Looking to deepen your knowledge on the rich biodiversity found in Australia's temperate reefs? This space is designed for you.
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Australian researchers are working at the global forefront of marine habitat restoration, with projects underway in every state along the Great Southern Reef. Habitat restoration is a resource intensive exercise used as a last resort for areas where vital habitats have been lost or are in decline and natural recovery is not occurring. Currently there are active restoration projects on the GSR working to restore seaweeds, seagrasses, and oyster reefs.
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Every month, we feature a creator from around the Great Southern Reef (GSR), showcasing their unique connection, creative expression, and passion for this extraordinary marine ecosystem. Through photography, art, storytelling, and film, these creators highlight the reef’s beauty, biodiversity, and the critical challenges it faces.
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What is the Great Southern Reef? What is unique about it? and how is climate change affecting it? Find out answers to these questions and more in our FAQ page.
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Associate Professor Ling has been instrumental in discovering the complex factors contributing to the urchin problem, casting new light on how climate change, predatory interactions, and ecological balance play into the crisis.
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The Great Southern Reef Research Partnership is a collaboration between universities, management agencies, and NGOs from across Australia, is taking a whole-of-system approach to safeguard the critical functions, fisheries, and biodiversity of the Great Southern Reef.
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The Great Southern Reef Foundation has partnered with Fremantle-based multidisciplinary artist Amok Island to create a stunning limited edition print, Iconic Species of the Great Southern Reef. This artwork showcases 18 unique species found along this extraordinary marine ecosystem.
