Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Marine and Coastal Hub offshore wind farm environmental research update, June 2025
Jun 6, 2025
This research update brings together Marine and Coastal Hub projects and outputs relating to offshore wind farm environmental research in Australia. The hub and its research partners have been working in this area since 2023 with a focus on key environmental factors considered relevant to offshore wind farm construction, operation and decommissioning in Australian waters….
Gathering knowledge to assess windfarm development off Gippsland
Mar 26, 2025
Environmental information is needed for effective planning and assessments. The Marine and Coastal Hub is collating and reviewing existing environmental information for Australian offshore wind declaration areas. Hub researchers are identifying datasets on ecosystems, habitats, oceanography and priority species at a regional scale for declared areas. They are recommending ways to make the information more…
Smoothing the flow of marine and coastal restoration
Dec 12, 2024
These are findings of a Marine and Coastal Hub project that reviewed people’s experiences and made suggestions for improving the viability of marine and coastal restoration efforts in Australia. In 2022, Australia joined other parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework agenda is to halt and…
A new method to identify sites for coastal wetland restoration
Oct 3, 2024
Restoration efforts face challenges due to the limited data available on potential project locations and their blue carbon value (carbon-capture in vegetation and soils). The need for feasibility studies to secure carbon market funding can hinder progress. A paper published in the Journal of Environmental Management in October introduces a regional-scale approach to identifying coastal…
Updated population trend estimates enable threatened species listings for migratory shorebirds
Mar 25, 2024
The new listings were guided by population trend estimates created in a Marine and Coastal Hub project co-designed with the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). The hub project, led by Professor Richard Fuller of The University of Queensland, focussed on 15 migratory shorebird species whose conservation status was being reassessed…
Pakana Rangers pilot surveys of seagrass habitat in the proposed Tayaritja Milaythina Muka IPA
Mar 25, 2024
Seagrass beds are culturally and ecologically important habitats in the proposed Tayaritja Milaythina Muka Indigenous Protected Area (IPA). This collaborative hub project is mapping their extent for the first time. The results will contribute to the management plan being developed by the Pakana community for the proposed IPA, and to a Pakana Ranger seagrass monitoring…
Nathan’s dream career captures a sea lion’s perspective of the marine world
Dec 19, 2023
When I was a teenager, working on beautiful islands, studying and learning about the ocean and marine life is something I dreamt about doing as a career. Throughout the course of my PhD it has felt incredibly surreal to see those dreams realised. My PhD project is focused on identifying and mapping critical habitats and…
Long-term decline in dugong populations confirmed along Great Barrier Reef
Sep 27, 2023
Aerial surveys conducted in 2022 confirm that this declining trend has persisted for almost two decades, despite Australia’s status as the host of the world’s largest population of these vulnerable marine mammals. Released this week, the 2022 Dugong Aerial Survey: Mission Beach to Moreton Bay report is part of a series of aerial surveys conducted every five…
Scientists attend foraging school with ‘sea lion cam’
Jul 14, 2023
The cameras were attached to the backs of two sea lions at at Olive Island near Streaky Bay (off South-Australia’s Eyre Peninsula) and four sea lions at Seal Bay (Kangaroo Island). Each camera deployment recorded 12 hours of footage, showing beautiful and captivating imagery of the sea lions’ journeys, diving and foraging for food. Further…
Macquarie Harbour last refuge for Maugean Skate, DNA survey finds
Sep 7, 2022
In a Marine and Coastal Hub project, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) researchers set out to detect the presence of Maugean Skate DNA in Bathurst Harbour, where only four individuals have ever been seen and none have been sighted since 1992. “Maugean Skates have one of the most limited distributions of any known species…