Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Southern right whale: 50 years of aerial surveys and counting
Sep 7, 2025
For the full-screen experience, this story can can also be viewed on ArcGIS StoryMaps [external link].
Developing Integrated Pest Management for feral pigs
Sep 5, 2025
The Marine and Coastal Hub project is led by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance Ltd (NAILSMA). It was co-designed with Daluk Rangers, Juunjuwarra Rangers and Madjaybana Rangers who are also collaborating in the field research. Fieldwork is being conducted at three sites in northern Australia to capture different environments: Kakadu National Park, Cape…
Supporting shorebird recovery across the East Asian–Australasian Flyway
Sep 5, 2025
An early Marine and Coastal Hub project 1.21 analysed population trends for 15 key species. This research directly contributed to the listing of eight species as nationally threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. However, it was not all bad news; the numbers for several species appeared to be stabilising, suggesting some…
Making unseen reefs visible: new maps support better decisions for northern Australia’s marine life
Sep 5, 2025
In the remote, sediment-rich waters of northern Australia, these reefs had remained largely hidden. Absent from official maps, they have mostly been invisible to decision-makers. As such, despite providing habitat for a wide range of marine life, they are overlooked in conservation and development planning. The hub project team, led by the Australian Institute of…
Slow increase in Australia’s eastern grey nurse shark population shows conservation actions are on track
Sep 5, 2025
Scientists collected biopsy samples from more than 300 grey nurse sharks off the coast of New South Wales. The DNA of these sharks was profiled to reveal family relationships that can help to estimate population size. Based on this work, the number of adults in the eastern grey nurse shark population is estimated to have…
Lights, cameras, pilchards and whales: surveying life in Hunter Marine Park
Sep 4, 2025
At depths below 50 metres, their cameras are capturing the wonderful world of fiddler rays, catsharks, Port Jackson sharks, hermit crabs, leatherjackets, lobsters, nannygai, bellowfish, serpent eels, sea whips, wobbegongs and snappers. The three-week survey began on 12 August, and is working around the weather. It is led by Dr Jacquomo Monk of the Institute…
Seeing ocean life through eDNA: new insights from south-eastern Australia
Sep 2, 2025
The voyages, conducted in July 2023 and May 2024, were part of the South-East Australian Marine Ecosystem Survey (SEA-MES) on the CSIRO Research Vessel (RV) Investigator. More than 500 eDNA samples were collected and analysed from 91 survey sites along the continental shelf between Tasmania and southern New South Wales. This is the first comprehensive…
Black rockcod find refuge in ‘no-take’ zones amid overall population decline
Jun 17, 2025
It’s a go-to zone for scuba divers who descend to 12–18 metre depths and watch grey nurse sharks parade through rocky gutters. For some there’s an even rarer sight . . . the appearance of a large black rockcod. This legendary fellow is estimated to be 50–70 years old. Divers first noticed him in 1988,…
Neville Barrett receives 2025 Australian Marine Sciences Association Silver Jubilee Award
Jun 17, 2025
The videos show the spectrum of seabed life from Breaksea Island at the ocean entrance to Platypus Point where the channel joins Bathurst Harbour: a small inland sea. The channel’s sheltered, dimly lit habitat is globally rare. Many of sponges, corals and bryozoans that thrive here are more typically found deep in the ocean. They…
Workshop bridges knowledge and expertise to support offshore wind farm environmental assessment
Jun 17, 2025
The two-day workshop was part of a hub project that is developing regional modelling and risk assessment to support decision-making in the Gippsland Declared Area off the coast of Victoria. Presenters outlined ecosystem modelling approaches, the status of environmental knowledge and existing activities such as fishing and offshore petroleum for the Bass Strait region. The…