Play your part and win a prize in the naming competition for Australia’s next marine research vessel.
Olympic basketball star names deep sea shrimp
Few people are lucky enough to have a species named after them. But this opportunity was made available to the public in April this year, when the rights to name a small spotted shrimp were auctioned for charity.
Field robotics and the bag of words
Marine Biodiversity Hub scientists have been using pictures of seabed features and fauna taken by an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) to classify habitats and biological assemblages.
Challenges of evidence-based policy-making
On 30 April, 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd specified the need to develop evidence-based policy making processes as part of a robust culture of policy contestability, noting that this presented important challenges and opportunities for researchers and research institutions.
Working group recommends national approach to marine indicators
The Marine Biodiversity Hub works with national advisory groups to improve the management of marine biodiversity.
Census of Marine Life news
The 10-year international Census of Marine of Life (CoML) involving scientists from 80 nations, reports its findings in October 2010 at the Royal Society in London.
Scientists around the world (including Australia) are busy preparing their findings for special issues of journals. A series of press releases is planned for distribution in the next two years, and CoML is seeking additional opportunities to disseminate results. Also, we are revitalising the Australian CoML website, which will provide links to the many projects that Australian scientists are working on and include information on planned events www.coml.org.au
New web-based forum for CERF community
Paul Hedge, Knowledge Broker, CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub
The Commonwealth Environment Research Facility team at the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) has developed a new CERForum to share information on important events and ideas about environmental research.
News from other CERF hubs
Applied Environmental Decision Analysis (AEDA)
Read Director Hugh Possingham’s article on the government’s strategy to secure Australia’s biodiversity. How will we know whether it is working? http://www.aeda.edu.au/docs/Newsletters/DPoint_30.pdf
Prof Nic Bax, Director, CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub
Monitoring and indicators for marine environmental monitoring are high on the national agenda and the Marine Biodiversity Hub is involved in several initiatives.
In Focus - Off-Reserve Management Program
Welcome to the September issue of the Marine Biodiversity Hub newsletter. The program featured this month has expanded from spatial incentives and biodiversity offsets to include market and incentive based tools for managing human impacts on marine systems. The newsletter reflects this diversity, with contributions from scientists and managers that work with the program team.
Spatial incentives as an alternative to pelagic MPAs
Chris Wilcox, CSIRO - Leader, CERF Off-Reserve Management Program
Pelagic ecosystems are defined by moving features such as upwelling zones around ocean eddies. So the spatial management of pelagic ecosystems – by incentives or marine reserves – also must be dynamic.
Rapidly predicting the species distribution from limited data
The distribution of fishery bycatch species such as turtles and seabirds is poorly documented, but knowing where they are caught and killed is crucial to the design of incentive programs to avoid them.
How will fishers respond to MPAs and spatial incentives?
Changes in fishing patterns following the introduction of spatial incentives or marine reserves can be modelled to predict economic and conservation outcomes.
Reducing long-line bycatch with real-time dynamic spatial management
Spatial management is one way to reduce fisheries bycatch. One requirement is a description of the three dimensional habitat of the species in question, and this is now possible for a range of species using data collected from electronic tags.
Using market-based incentives for biodiversity conservation
In recent years, governments have looked more closely at the opportunities for using market-based (or market-like) approaches for biodiversity conservation.
Balancing stakeholder objectives: drawing the triple bottom line
Social, economic and environmental values must be included in assessments of how a policy, project or resource allocation will meet agreed sustainability objectives.
What to do when space doesn’t work: incentives in fisheries environmental management
Incentive-based approaches that benefit users who help achieve management goals are of increasing interest to fisheries managers as they can simultaneously improve both economic performance and resource sustainability.
Creating a practical basis for biodiversity offsets – understanding threats, developing options and supporting decision making
Fisheries management agencies have come under increasing pressure following a recent announcement that the US may impose trade sanctions on countries that do not meet bycatch avoidance requirements for marine turtles.
Publications - A shrimp’s tale ...
Describing new fauna from Western Australia - Joanne Taylor and Anna McCallum, Museum Victoria - CERF Biodiversity Program
With any survey of Australia’s deeper waters comes the discovery of new species. The taxonomic description of these species is essential to further our understanding of biodiversity.
Profile - James Innes, TAFI/CSIRO
James Innes recently completed his PhD at the Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources (CEMARE) at the University of Portsmouth in the UK
Profile - Nicole Hill, TAFI
One of Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute’s most recent recruits, Nicole Hill, is delighted to have landed a post-doctoral quantitative ecology position within the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub.
Environmental Monitoring Workshop, October 2009 - register now
Molluscs 2009
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Newsletter banner caption:
Beche-de-Mer species: Holothuria whitmaei, its common name is the Black Teat Fish (Photo: CSIRO)
Why is off-reserve management important?
Hub scientist, CERF 
