No Images? Click here As we all head off for a well-deserved break with family and friends, it’s a good time to reflect on how far we’ve come in 10 years of research collaboration, and to share some of our plans for the future. Setting standardsAn early focus for the Hub was to support marine bioregional planning and especially the development of the Australian Marine Parks network. We surveyed tropical and temperate waters, built biogeographic baselines, and streamlined monitoring and assessment. Methods of monitoring ecosystem health with a focus on Key Ecological Features now underpin the Integrated Monitoring Framework for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and the design of Marine Park surveys. Soon we will release standard marine sampling procedures, and with the Integrated Marine Observing System, we’ll be helping scientists, managers and industries bring data collections of many types into a national marine biodiversity baseline. Back to the seaAfter several years spent developing online access to data for Australia’s continental shelf reefs, we’re heading back out to sea. Eight surveys are proposed for the next three years as part of a 10-year survey program to support assessment of the new Park networks. We’ll also be helping to visualise the results through Parks Australia’s developing science portal. Vital signsHub research and data, including national maps of pressure, were the largest single contributor to the marine chapter of State of the Environment 2016. Our most comprehensive dataset combined temperate and tropical surveys to build a national view of shallow reef biodiversity. The Hub’s next big contribution will be an assessment of pressures and their cumulative impacts in the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef, together with GBRMPA and the Queensland Government. We’ll also be mapping marine noise, monitoring marine debris around Australia and water quality around outfalls, and assessing recreational fishing effort in selected marine parks. Species and habitatsThis year we extended our threatened and migratory marine species research to include practical and on-ground outcomes. In Northern Australia, Hub researchers worked with Indigenous rangers to help conserve juvenile Largetooth Sawfish (including rescuing some along the way), and scoped a seascapes project to develop new baselines for multiple species. In Hobart they created ideal conditions for successful captive breeding of Spotted Handfish. Species action planning was instigated for Australia’s sharks, and advice on sustainable use and conservation will continue to be provided in 2018, including the first population size estimates for white shark, grey nurse shark, and Northern River Shark. This year we also concluded a three-year study to build a case for saltmarsh and shellfish reef restoration, and will be exploring this further in ongoing research. Blogging the abyss A communication highlight for the Hub this year was the RV Investigator voyage to Australia’s Eastern Abyss. This was an excellent example of what is possible when we work with our partners, in this case Museums Victoria and CSIRO, to bring exciting research into public view. We’d like to thank you for being part of the Hub’s evolution, and we extend a special thanks to Reef Life Survey for the photographs featured on our festive card. If you like them, head over here for a free copy of the Hub’s 2017 poster: ‘Colours of the Coral Sea’. Best wishes and see you next year.
Nic Bax and Paul Hedge 19 December 2017
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