Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is Australia’s Tropical Marine Research Agency operating from bases in Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory . The Institute is a leader in tropical marine science with strong national and international collaborative links. AIMS generates and transfers knowledge to support the sustainable use and protection of the tropical marine environment through innovative, world class research.
AIMS has a history of delivering integrated multidisciplinary biophysical science to diverse users from government, industry and society through multiple joint ventures: CRC Reef, MTSRF, WAMSI, IMOS, Reef Plan, CERF Marine Biodiversity. AIMS conducts more large-scale marine monitoring than any other Australian organisation; currently maintaining long-term programs for Queensland and Western Australia that were started in the early nineties.
AIMS has highly developed capabilities in marine biodiversity, impacts and adaptation to climate change, water quality and ecosystem health and has established a new research direction in marine microbiology. The Institute’s research programs support the management of tropical marine environments around the globe, with an emphasis on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, northwest Australia and Ningaloo Marine Park in Western Australia.
Charles Darwin University
Charles Darwin University provides strong linkages with a Northern Australian Hub and well-established marine partnerships with government management agencies in northern Australia and through them Indigenous communities and organisations (land councils, NAILSMA). This includes key marine datasets for Northern Australia, tropical knowledge management systems, monitoring and data-gathering (particularly in remote areas), and internationally recognised expertise in Indigenous ecological knowledge, socio-cultural and economic analyses and policy development.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
CSIRO is Australia’s national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world. It is involved in the Hub through the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship.
The goal of the Wealth from Oceans Flagship is to position Australia by 2020 as an international benchmark in the delivery of economic, social and environmental wealth based on leadership in understanding ocean systems and processes. The Flagship aims to provide Australians with access to the vast economic and social wealth of our ocean territories, while preserving their environmental value.
The Wealth from Oceans Flagship is supporting management of multiple human activities in the marine and coastal zone to reap social and economic benefits while maintaining the integrity of the environment. Across CSIRO and through partnerships, the Flagship’s Marine Nation research portfolio taps strengths in biophysical research, socio-economics, statistics and data assimilation, and sensor networks, assembling a world-leading team with unique capacity to address coastal and marine management issues.
The Wealth from Oceans (WfO) Flagship’s marine conservation and biodiversity management research will provide the scientific understanding and management tools necessary to underpin conservation of Australia’s marine biodiversity in Commonwealth and State waters.
Geoscience Australia (GA)
Geoscience Australia is Australia's national geoscience research agency. One of the key activities of the agency is to create, maintain and disseminate geographic and geological knowledge to provide information about the marine jurisdiction for environmental, economic and social purposes.
It provides internationally recognised leadership in marine geoscience, which includes expertise in marine geophysics (multibeam sonar, sub-bottom), geomorphology, sedimentology, spatial analysis/GIS, benthic ecology and physical oceanography. Importantly, the agency is custodian for national coastal, marine sediment and bathymetry databases,
Museum Victoria (MV)
Museum Victoria provides taxonomic and macro-ecological expertise, specialising in biodiversity projects that require a high-degree of taxonomic resolution. One of the key strengths of the marine group at Museum Victoria is having the expertise to combine museum data from diverse projects and institutions into significant national datasets suitable for bioregional and phylogeographic analyses.
It also provides expertise in taxonomy of marine invertebrates that is critical for understanding the biodiversity, biogeography and evolution of Australia’s biota.
University of Tasmania
The University of Tasmania provides significant expertise in benthic ecology, Marine Protected Areas research, spatial analysis, social sciences and economics. It has a strong marine science focus and is committed to building that further within the recently established Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS). UTAS currently hosts Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the current Marine Biodiversity Hub, the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) Marine Biodiversity Network, leads the national Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) Building Capability in Fisheries Economics Project, has strong postgraduate links with other leading marine Universities (UWA, JCU) through Australian National Network in Marine Science (ANNIMS), and with CSIRO through the Quantitative Marine Science (QMS) postgraduate program.
The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) was created by the University of Tasmania in 2010 to encourage collaborative research in marine and Antarctic science between various parts of the University, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, the Australian Antarctic Division and other agencies.
IMAS includes the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, a partnership between the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government that supports the development and sustainable management of living marine resources in the region.
Research is centred around three programs:
- Sustainable Fisheries,
- Estuaries & Coasts and
- Sustainable Aquaculture.
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia, through the UWA Oceans Institute, provides leadership and capacity in marine habitat mapping, biological and physical oceanography, climate change science, reef ecology, fish and fisheries ecology, threatened species research, resource economics, coastal and marine management, oceanographic modelling, statistical modelling and development of indicators. Strong partnerships exist with the offshore oil and gas industry creating significant opportunities for industry engagement including access to existing industry held data and uptake of research outcomes.