Pulling Back the Big Blue Curtain- big fish and big parks

Oceans are fundamental to life on Planet Earth. Over 70%
of our blue planet’s surface is water; every 2nd breath we take
is oxygen produced by the sea, and our food security depends
on protein caught from the ocean. Yet humans are rapidly
transforming our oceans, and not in a good way. Globally, we are
emptying the oceans of fish, including sharks.

In Western Australia, key species such as Western Rock Lobster,
Dhufish, and herring have become so depleted that catch has
been cut by half to allow stocks to rebuild. In the face of these
challenges, more marine parks (areas where marine life is protected
from fishing), are being established in light of the wealth of
scientific evidence supporting the positive benefits for
coastal marine biodiversity, abundance and biomass in protected
areas.

Australia has now established large marine parks in our offshore
“big blue” waters and the question is: how does ocean wildlife
respond to protection? We are exploring this question by deploying
non-destructive baited video cameras in oshore waters to identify,
count and measure ocean wildlife. This is a window onto our new
marine parks and our progress towards rebuilding ocean health.

This public lecture will share the results of our research expeditions
across 11 of Australia’s new marine parks from the Kimberley to
Esperance, pulling back the blue curtain on the state of ocean wildlife
in this region.