News / Events

Media Items of Interest - 2011

25 March 2011
Final report launch - Media release
First broad-scale maps of life on the sea-shelf

Exhibition of marine biodiversity images

Ensuring a future for life in Australia's oceans

- the Marine Biodiversity Hub’s exhibition of images to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010. 

Discovering amazing species (Karen Gowlett-Holmes, CSIRO)The exhibition contains images from Hub partners (and a few more) was curated by Mark Norman, Head of Science at Museum Victoria. Our aim is to reach out to the general public (especially school students) and raise their awareness of the beauty and fragility of Australia’s marine biodiversity. We also raise the need for cutting edge science and management to protect this environment.

There are 19 panels displayed on the walls as you walk up the ramp to the different levels of Questacon.

(The Marine Biodiversity Hub is a collaborative partnership funded by the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) programme, an Australian Government initiative supporting world class, public good research. Its partners include the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, University of Tasmania; CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Flagship; Geoscience Australia; Australian Institute of Marine Science; and Museum Victoria. www.marinehub.org)

Photo credits:

Organisations: CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Individuals: Bruce Barker (CSIRO), Mark Norman, Gary Bell, Julian Finn (Museum Victoria) Chris Fallows/apexpredators.com, Karen Gowlett-Holmes, Eric G Matson (Australian Institute of Marine Science), Greg Mellin (Australian Museum), David Paul (dpimages)

VENUES:


CSIRO Discovery Centre
From 22 February 2011 - and extended until 27 March 2011


Geoscience Australia, Canberra
Open Day - Sunday 17 October 2010

Questacon, Canberra
The Questacon exhibition of photographs opened on 21 May 2010, the day before International Day for Biological Diversity on the 22nd and was on display until 31 August 2010

More Hub at National Science Week 14-22 August 2010

Other International Year of Biodiversity Links:
www.biodiversity2010.org.au/ - See other biodiversity events in Australia. Promote your own biodiversity news and events, share your stories and ideas. Read the Hub's entry

www.cbd.int/idb/ - The United Nations proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.

Workshops 2010

Marine Protected Areas Workshop
Understanding DSEWPaC’s research needs for managing the Commonwealth marine reserve estate
16 November 2010, Canberra

The Marine Biodiversity Hub hosted a workshop with the Department  of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC) to bring together policy-makers, managers and researchers in protected area management. The goal of the workshop was to foster understanding about the future legislative, policy, program and operational challenges in managing the Commonwealth marine reserve estate, and to identify opportunities for science to contribute to meeting those challenges.

Agenda
Notes

Presentations -
Estimating costs of MPA management
Cost effective survey and monitoring of biota and habitats in shelf based MPAs
Marine Biodiversity Hub & Future Research - MPAs
Spatial Context for MPA Management
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park: Lessons learnt in managing a large multiple use, ecosystem-based MPA
Ecosystem health monitoring
Defining management objectives: lessons from fisheries
 

 


Market Based Instruments Workshop
Understanding DSEWPaC’s research needs on the application of market-based instruments to achieve marine conservation outcomes

4 November 2010, Canberra

The Marine Biodiversity Hub hosted a workshop with Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC) to bring together policy-makers, managers and researchers in marine management and incentive-based measures. The goal of the workshop was to foster understanding about the future policy and program challenges in managing the marine environment, and to identify potential opportunities for market-based instruments to contribute to improved and cost-effective conservation outcomes.

Agenda
Notes

Presentations -
Marine Biodiversity Hub & Future Research - MBIs
Beware of mathematicians bearing gifts
Marine Fisheries: MBIs for environmental and fisheries outcomes
How can incentives be used in managing biodiversity?

 


Nationally Relevant Environmental Monitoring Workshop
Existing approaches and future opportunities
20 and 21 October 2010, Canberra

CSIRO and the Marine Biodiversity Hub are hosting a workshop in Canberra on 20–21 October to bring together policy makers, practitioners and researchers in environmental monitoring. Our goal is to foster an ongoing national dialogue.

The environment’s capacity to service human needs and absorb human impacts is limited. The need to quantify, record and report on this capacity is firmly on the national policy agenda. A key impediment here is the lack of consistent, nationally relevant data, collected and analysed in a policy suitable format. The workshop will improve our joint understanding of the policy environment in which environmental monitoring occurs, and how different jurisdictions approach monitoring. It also will address new opportunities in monitoring programme design and implementation. This is the first stage in what we hope will become an ongoing process to advance environmental monitoring and improve its impact and relevance to local, regional and national decision-making.
The first day focuses on the technical challenges in achieving nationally relevant environmental monitoring and considers approaches that are currently in place. The second day focuses on frontiers in environmental monitoring and explores the opportunities of new methodological and technological developments.

Further information and registration details can be found at https://cms.csiro.au/events/national-relevant-environmental-monitoring-workshop.html


Species Prediction Workshop
Improving DEWHA’s capacity to predict the distribution of marine species
9 March 2010, Canberra

The Marine Biodiversity Hub convened a workshop with the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) to foster understanding between marine scientists and the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN), DEWHA about the current practices, challenges and objectives for predicting species distributions within ERIN. The workshop provided an opportunity for the CERF Marine Hub and other researchers to outline recent methodological and technical developments in predicting marine species distributions and potential advantages and limitations of alternative approaches. The workshop highlighted opportunities to improve ERIN’s capacity to predict and maintain species distributions through use or adoption of new surfaces, methods and techniques.

Agenda
Notes


 

Media Items of Interest - 2010

29 November 2010
New squat lobsteres found off Australia
National Geographic Daily News
Hub partner Museum Victoria’s squat lobster research, including photos taken by Karen Gowlett-Holmes (CSIRO) on board the RV Southern Surveyor.

10 June 2010
First definitive guide to Borneo’s sharks and rays
Media release

21 May 2010
Nine new species for disappearing handfish family
CSIRO
Media release
View the Handfish photo albumn on facebook
In National Geographic 24 May 2010
In The New York Times 28 May 2010

19 March 2010
Tasmanian and Australian marine environment changed forever
Invasive Screwshell – Cow or Cane Toad?
Media release

4 February 2010
Abundance of sponges shows WA waters teeming with biodiversity

Media Items of Interest - 2009

28 June 2009 - ABC Radio National “Background Briefing”
Australia’s ocean territory
Marine Biodiversity
Hub Director Nic Bax, and others
https://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2009/2607136.htm

25 March 2009 - ABC “Bush Telegraph”
Triple bottom line - novel economic instruments to support biodiversity conservation
Wendy Proctor and Chris Wilcox, CSIRO
https://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2009/s2525716.htm

19 February 2009 - ABC “Catalyst”
Seamounts
Hub Director Nic Bax and hub researchers
https://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2494933.htm

Media Items of Interest - 2008

8 October 2008
Minister Garrett opens workshop

The hub’s second annual science workshop held in October 2008 was opened by the Hon. Peter Garrett, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA).

Mr Garrett was in Hobart to release the findings of two recent DEWHA/CSIRO research voyages to monitor the Tasman Fracture and Huon Commonwealth Marine Reserves, about 100 nautical miles off the coast of southern Tasmania. “Mr Garrett said the discoveries were a surprising insight into the biodiversity of the largely unexplored Southern Ocean.”
More info: https://www.marinehub.org/index.php/site/newsletter_extended_archive/mini...

1 February 2008
Deepest ever photographs of marine biodiversity in Australian waters

The CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship and the Deparrtment of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts have collaborated with scientists from the California Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to deploy a deep-diving submersible on deep-sea coral reefs in the Southern Ocean. The un-manned submersible, the Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), is a robot designed to photograph and survey marine features at depths to 3000 m, more than a kilometre deeper than has previously been studied in Australian waters. ABE was deployed on six missions during a three-week cruise on the Southern Surveyor, reaching depths of 2960 m in the Tasman Fracture Zone Commonwealth Marine Reserve and taking over 6000 photographs of the sea floor. The photographs are still being analysed in detail, but already indicate sites from which fossil and sub-fossil corals can be collected for paleo-oceanographic and climate reconstruction (a primary objective of the missions) and show a rich benthic community well beyond depths expected. Hard corals were found as deep as 2300 m, whereas soft-corals, in a variety of taxa, were found as deep as ABE could dive, living in complete darkness and at temperatures of 1-2º. Over 1500 coral samples were obtained from shallower depths (1000-1500 m), using dredges, to start analysing the age and growth of the reefs and begin paleo-climate analysis. More samples, from greater depths, will be collected on a follow-up cruise in December 2008 using the US deep-sea vehicle, Jason. It is expected that Jason will sample to at least 4500 m, extending even further our information on biodiversity in the marine reserves.

https://www.csiro.au/news/AncientClimateSecrets.html