Skip to main content

Australian coastline survey reveals biodiversity loss




Australia’s coastline fish life has been reduced in the space of a year announced the University of Tasmania’s Reef Life Survey Foundation (The Canberra Times, February 21, 2014).

The year-long continental reef sea life survey is a world first.  The University of Tasmania (UTAS) survey of reef sea life along the entire coastline of Australia ended in Hobart on February 19. Volunteer divers collected data from 700 coral and rock reef sites for the survey, making it the first comprehensive study of reef systems in any continent in the world. UTAS’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies revealed the biodiversity loss.

UTAS indicated that biodiversity loss is not solely the result of overfishing, but is also due to the spread of invasive species, as well as pollution near major port cities.

The institute’s Reef Life Survey Foundation used a 14-metre catamaran called Reef Dragon to circumnavigate Australia – a distance of 12,000 nautical miles – while 75 trained volunteer divers examined the reefs up to 400 nautical miles offshore. This included the Coral Sea in the northeast of Australia and the North-West Shelf of Western Australia, finishing in Hobart, the state capital of Tasmania, in the south.

UTAS revealed that some reefs were “doing really well, particularly off the North-West Shelf where there are good numbers of large fish” but elsewhere the coral reefs were being degraded by bleaching. Coral bleaching is when the colour of coral degrades due to the breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between coral and zooxanthallae (marine algae). It’s a form of starving because most corals can’t survive with the algae. Bleaching occurs when the coral is stressed due to pollution, high sea temperatures, low salinity, or poor water quality (www.gbrmpa.gov.au).

I highlighted the issue of coral bleaching in 1996 in my award-winning article, “Canaries in coal mines: corals in reefs” published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) as part of the James Cook University CRC Reef Research Centre competition. It focused on corals as early detectors of pollution, and therefore early warning systems for reef management.  (http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/~crcreef/4news/Exploring/feat26.html)  


The best protection for reef sea life appears to be the well-enforced “no-take” marine reserves that are more than 10 years old, more than 100 square kilometres in area, and isolated by deep waters or sand bars.


Australia has 3.1 million square kilometres of marine reserves. Currently the Australian government is not continuing funding for the protection of the marine reserves’ management plans and no-take zones.




MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more