AMSA Bulletin Sept 2017 by AMSABulletin

Australian Marine Science Bulletin number 200 issue 2 September

2017

| AMSA 2017 Conference Round-up | Marine Parks - Old and New | Frigatebirds Under Pressure | A Special Anniversary

UPFRONT | CONTENTS

ABN 35 279 182 164 | ISN 0157-6429 | NUM 200 ISS 2 | September 2017 The Australian Marine Science Bulletin is self-published by AMSA, PO Box 220, Campbelltown, SA 5074. The Bulletin is registered as a Journal, National Library of Australia Advertising, Opinions, Media Inquiries and all other inquiries | editor@amsa. asn.au We print using P3, UNSW, Sydney Australia, 2052. COPYRIGHT: The Australian Marine Sciences Association Inc. holds copyright over the original works in this AMSA Bulletin. These works may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged.

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REGULARS Editorial President’s Letter New Members Features Reports State Branch News Science Shorts Book Reviews Council Meeting Highlights

10 AMSA 2017 Round-up of the Darwin conference, including an overview of the plenary speakers, scientific program, workshops and all-important socials!

Marine Park Drafts The long-awaited draft plans for Australian Marine Parks are out!

FRONT COVER PHOTO © Photo | Krystle Keller

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

AMSA Awards Meet the winners of the 2017 AMSA Jubilee, Technical and Allen Awards.

Marmion Marine Park It has been 30 years since the Marmion Marine Park was announced - let’s look back...

UPFRONT | CONTENTS

Conference Awards

Frigatebirds Under Threat What is impacting these magnificent seabirds?

This year, a new category was added to the AMSA Photo Competition check out “My Research in a Meme”!

Which students were recognised at the AMSA 2017 conference?

Photo Competition

AMSA Bulletin Milestone In our 200th issue, we catch-up with some of the past Bulletin Editors.

Sneak Peek The first look at the AMSA 2018 Conference in Adelaide.

Science MEets Parliament Olaf Meynecke reports back as the AMSA 2017 SMP Representative.

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Patron Prof. Joe Baker AO, OBE AMSA COUNCIL President Assoc. Prof. Will Figueira president@amsa.asn.au Vice-President Dr Luke Hedge l.hedge@unsw.edu.au Immediate Past President

Dr Tim Lynch tim.lynch@csiro.au

Secretary Dr Penny Berents secretary@amsa.asn.au Treasurer Dr Maylene Loo treasurer@amsa.asn.au Editor Sarah Marley editor@amsa.asn.au Councillors Dr Ana Bugnot Dr Ed Butler Dr Katherine Dafforn Dr Arnold Dekker Assoc. Prof. Sabine Dittmann Dr Jan Olaf Meynecke Dr Kate Naughton Prof. Morgan Pratchett Dr Rachel Przeslawski Dr James Tweedley

Editorial communications, including articles submitted, should be sent to the Editor, AMSA Bulletin, by email to editor@amsa.asn.au. CONTRIBUTIONS: The Editor invites (and needs) you to provide articles and news for this Bulletin. Material should be relevant to the interests of marine scientists. If material is to be copied from books/articles etc, the Editor should be advised of copyright information and be satisfied that permission to copy has been obtained. The Editor reserves the right to edit all contributions. DISCLAIMERS: In regards to products, services and/or products which are either advertised or mentioned in the editorial content of this magazine, users should determine for themselves the reliability and/or suitability of their own particular requirements. Advertisers must ensure at all times that the products and/or services represented are suitable for marine scientists. The Australian Marine Sciences Association Inc. cannot accept responsibility for any product or service statements made herein, and the opinion or comments from any contributor are not necessarily those of the Association, its committee, its members or the editor. Note that AMSA collects unidentifiable readership data on the electronic version of the Bulletin.

UPFRONT | EDITORIAL

This Bulletin seems to be a mix of ‘the old’ and ‘the new’… First and foremost, we have a wonderful AMSA This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the 2017 Conference Round-up. The Organising and Marmion Marine Park in Western Australia. John Scientific Committees did a sterling job of creating Ottaway was the Chief Environmental Officer an informative and insightful event, as well as in the former Department of Conservation and hosting numerous social events with a Environment at the time; on page 44 Northern Territory twist! Organising he shares his thoughts looking back on Chair Ed Butler touches on all these in his the past thirty years and reflects on the conference report on page 10, and we also importance of communication in getting have a few words about the winners of the the marine park off the ground. AMSA Awards and the conference prizes. We are fortunate to have a very visual This message is particularly pertinent, representation of the conference activities given the recent release of the draft too, in the form of event snapshots and management plans for Australian Sarah Marley the results of the AMSA 2017 Photo Marine Parks (previously known as Editor Competition. Some examples of these can Commonwealth Marine Reserves). be seen on the cover and contents pages, These plans are said to make Australia which display images from Krystle Keller, turn to page “one of the world’s leaders in marine protection” 30 for some more wonderful images. So whether you (page 42) – but what do you think? The feedback were in the middle of the action or regrettably absent, process is now complete, which will no doubt provide you can fondly look back on this wonderful week of interesting discussion regarding the future of marine marine science in the Northern Territory. conservation in Australia. However, even as we are fondly reminiscing over best talks, best workshops, and best dance moves, we are already looking forward to the next conference. Turn to page 40 for your first glimpse of AMSA 2018 “Canyons to Coast”! Speaking of reminiscing, this issue marks a milestone – the 200th issue of the AMSA Bulletin! To mark the occasion, we caught up with some of the past Bulletin Editors. On page 50 we hear from Jon Havenhand, Emma Johnston, Megan Huggett, Claire Smallwood and Luke Hedge as they share their stories behind taking on the editorial role and reflect on how involvement with AMSA has benefited their marine science careers. This issue also marks the first fully online version of the Bulletin. Issues will no longer be published in hard copy, and will instead exist in a digital-only format. This decision was made for three reasons. Firstly, it is hoped to increase AMSA’s capacity to support other initiatives – we are a not-forprofit organisation, and the printing of the Bulletin is a significant cost. The additional fee collected for a hard copy covers only about 10% of the actual costs, with AMSA Subsidising the rest. With the money saved from printing, AMSA will be able to divert funds to support our members more directly via national and local branch activities. Secondly, a digital format leaves a smaller environmental footprint, which aligns with AMSA’s support of environmental consideration and sustainability. Lastly, as AMSA is run by volunteers, this decision marks a decreased workload in terms of sourcing material, editing, and formatting the Bulletin. If you have any concerns regarding this decision, particularly if you are unable to access a digital version, please contact memberships@amsa.asn.au.

Also related to marine conservation is the diversity of research techniques featured in this issue – although this does have more of the new and less of the old! Whether it is testing mercury levels in frigatebirds, deploying fish-borne tags in caged salmon, cracking the code of crown-of-thorns starfish communication, or testing for antibiotic-resistant bacteria in turtles, you are sure to learn something new. Who knows, maybe it will change the course of your own research by sparking a new idea or describing a novel method. Of course, some of the best ways to foster innovation is through communication and collaboration! So why not take the opportunity to engage with your peers? Check in with our State Branches to see which forthcoming AMSA events are on near you. Our Branches have already been busy this year, but there is still plenty more on the cards! And even if you can’t spare the time to attend in person, you can still keep the Australian marine science community up-to-date with your research by featuring it in the AMSA Bulletin. If you have a story to share, send an email to editor@amsa.asn.au. Finally, following the AMSA AGM in Darwin, we now have some changes on the AMSA Council. Professor Lynnath Beckley and Dr Hugh Kirkman have retired from council after many years of contributing their time and effort to AMSA activities. However, Professor Morgan Pratchett and Dr Ana Bugnot have kindly joined the team in their place. I hope you enjoy this mid-year edition of the Bulletin!

UPFRONT | PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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UPFRONT | PRESIDENT’S LETTER

What makes a good conference? As I reflect upon our 2017 Conference in Darwin and As the President, the first half of the year, up to and work with the organising committee for including the conference, brings with it the 2018 meeting in Adelaide, I find myself one of the most rewarding parts of the thinking a lot about what makes a good job…giving out awards. To hear the conference. You obviously need a solid genuine gratitude and, in some cases, scientific program to underpin the event. loss for words, from the recipients of our This should including topical sessions and Association Awards on the other end internationally regarded keynote speakers of the phone line upon hearing they’d from across the range of genders, cultures won was quite gratifying. It reflects and marine science disciplines. These are, to me the very high regard in which Dr Will Figueira after all, the people that draw you from AMSA is held within the marine science President your slumber regardless of the merriment community and affirms the tireless of of the night before. And of course that efforts of so many people to build this merriment is also fundamental and so we Association up over the past 50+ years. must carefully consider our social events. We want to And of course getting to hand out the student prizes at provide an alternate atmosphere for participants to get the conference dinner is a great chance to shake hands together and talk about their science and their shared with who I hope will be some of the future leaders of passions. And then there’s the all-important venue and marine science and key supporters of AMSA. food. One need only look at the desperate faces in the cue for the free coffee cart in Darwin to understand We’ve got another outstanding Bulletin for you, the fundamental role proper sustenance plays in packed with news and science. You’ll see in the creative endeavours. Of course all of these factors council meeting minutes that we’ve been very busy on come to naught if the meeting isn’t well organised. council. We were sad to see two of our councillors, While we may fancy ourselves a free thinking and Hugh Kirkman and Lynnath Beckley step down. creative lot, ultimately we do like to be told pretty But we thank them heartily for all they have done. clearly what’s about to happen. In my mind, all of Frankly it’s hard to argue Lynnath in particular doesn’t these factors essentially set the stage. To use a nautical deserve a break, having been on council for 14 years, reference, they are the hull, the keel, the mast, the since 2003, including a term as President from 2010sails. You won’t win a race without a good boat… 2012. I’m already a bit lost without her and she has but they aren’t enough, they aren’t the key. What been grateful in still entertaining my constant requests ultimately drives the success of a good conference, for assistance. Thank you Lynnath. Moving forward its wind in my little analogy, is the enthusiasm and I’m delighted to welcome two new councillors, passion of the attendees. So while not taking any Professor Morgan Pratchett and Dr. Ana Bugnot. credit away from the incredible amount of hard work that it takes to make these conferences happen, I think Enjoy the read and I wish you all the best as you its also worth noting that our success is ultimately continue to learn more about our wondrous marine driven by all of our member just basically being who world and pass this information along to anybody they are. So if you missed Darwin, don’t make that who will listen!! mistake again! Adelaide 2018 is shaping up to be another cracker of an event and I hope to see you there.

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UPFRONT | NEW MEMBERS

Welcome New AMSA Members! Margaret Andrew; Murdoch University Hannah Auricht; University of Adelaide Ben Baghurst; Primary Industries and Regions SA Jessica Benthuysen; AIMS Allison Broad; University of Wollongong Brendan Brooke; Geoscience Australia Rik Buckworth; Sea Sense Christopher Cornwall; University of Western Australia Joey Crosswell; CSIRO Shirley Dawe; Hydrobiology Jordan Della-Pietra; University of Adelaide Roy Deng; CSIRO Joseph DiBattista; Curtin University Elizabeth Evans-Illidge; AIMS Teleri Ewe; Griffith University Stuart Field; Dept of Parks and Wildlife Rebecca Fisher; AIMS Christopher Frid; Griffith University James Gilmour; AIMS Ana Hara; Western Australian Museum Josh Hatton; FRC Environmental Brett Herbert; Dept of Agriculture and Water Resources, Australian Government Zhi Huang; Geoscience Australia Trevor Hutton; CSIRO Fabrice Jaine; Sydney Institute of Marine Science Nicole Jones; University of Western Australia Emma Kennedy; Griffith University Emma Kennedy; University of Queensland Amy Kirke; Murdoch University Jacinta Lamacchia; CSIRO James Lavender; Dept of Agriculture and Water Resources, Australian Government Amelia Mack; AECOM Oleg Makarynskyy; AIMS Jennie Mallela; Australian National University Rachel Manassa; Central Queensland University Duan March; Southern Cross University Karlie McDonald; CSIRO Dionna Newton; Cradle Coast Authority Hong Dao Nguyen; University of Sydney Scott Nichol; Geoscience Australia Jane Orr; Dept of Environment and Natural Resources 8

Carol Palmer; Dept of Environment and Natural Resources Robert Pemberton; Claire Peterken; Dept of Environment and Heritage Protection Kim Picard; Geoscience Australia Vincent Raoult; University of Newcastle Cath Samson; Dept of Environment and Energy, Kylie Scales; University of the Sunshine Coast Peter Scanes; NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Verena Schoepf; University of Western Australia Cameron Sim; NOPSEMA Claire Spillman; Bureau of Meteorology Jennifer Strickland-Munro; Dept of Parks and Wildlife Laura Taillebois; Charles Darwin University Hanieh Tohidi Farid; Southern Cross University Kerry Trayler; Dept of Parks and Wildlife Jeffrey Tsang; AIMS Vinay Udyawer; AIMS Ana Vila Concejo; University of Sydney Andrew Warmbrunn; Parks Australia Tanya Whiteway; Geoscience Australia Anusuya Willis; Griffith University Jessica Wilson; Dept of Environment, Water and Natural Resources Janine Erica Abecia; Charles Darwin University Rusianti Amat Sugio; University of Western Australia Samantha Andrzejaczek; University of Western Australia Stacy Bierwagen; James Cook University Colby Bignell; University of Western Australia Rushan Bin Abdul Rahman; Murdoch University Ellen Bingham; University of the Sunshine Coast Hayden Borland; University of the Sunshine Coast Kristen Brown; University of Queensland Jasmine Bursic; Deakin University Evan Byrnes; Murdoch University Theodore Campbell; Murdoch University Luciana Cerqueira Ferreira; University of Western Australia Andrew Colefax; Southern Cross University Cherie Colyer-Morris; University of Newcastle

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UPFRONT | NEW MEMBERS

Sorcha Cronin-Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly; Murdoch University Navodha Dissanayake; Griffith University Rachel Downey; Australian National University Cassandra Duncan; University of the Sunshine Coast Brodie Elsdon; Curtin University Ricky-Lee Erickson; University of Melbourne Jessica Ericson; University of Tasmania Emily Evans; Curtin University Patrick Fitzgerald; Flinders University Chantel Foord; Deakin University Ruby Garthwin; University of New South Wales Francesca Gissi; University of Wollongong Silvan Urs Goldenberg; University of Adelaide Rachel Groom; James Cook University Vanessa Haller; James Cook University Nicole Hellessey; Institute of Marine and Antarctic Sciences Thanh Hoang; University of Western Australia Indi Hodgson-Johnston; University of Tasmania Cara Hull; University of Melbourne Kim Hunnam; Charles Darwin University Hoi Yan Iao; University of Queensland Lyn Irvine; University of Tasmania David Juszkiewicz; Murdoch University Brock Keymer; University of Western Australia Sarah Kienker; University of Sydney Catherine Kim; University of Queensland Inigo Koefoed; Murdoch University Brendan Lanham; University of New South Wales Karissa Lear; Murdoch University Lisa Fee Moy Lee Nen That; RMIT University Phoebe Lewis; RMIT University Mary Mackay; University of Tasmania Lucie Marcos; CSIRO Marinne Motais de Narbonne; CSIRO Rachel Marks; Murdoch University Melanie Mazat; CSIRO Fletcher Mingramm; University of Queensland Nicholas Mondello; Murdoch University Jose Montalvo; James Cook University Sarah Murfitt; Deakin University Viet Hung Nguyen; University of New South Wales Josephine Nielsen; James Cook University

Ruth Patterson; Charles Darwin University Cassie Pert; University of Melbourne Euan Provost; Southern Cross University Gerard Ricardo; University of Western Australia Laura Richardson; ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Rachel Rintoul; Murdoch University Olivia Rowley; James Cook University Cristian Salinas; Edith Cowan University Sonia Sanchez; Monash University Victor Shelamoff; University of Tasmania Megan Skelton; University of Queensland Sandra Straub; University of Western Australia Alissa Tate; Edith Cowan University Rick Tate; Southern Cross University Shinjiro Ushiama; University of New South Wales Sebastian Vadillo Gonzalez; University of New South Wales Rene van der Zande; University of Queensland Stephanie Venables; University of Western Australia Katrina West; Curtin University Briannyn Woods; University of Tasmania Cyntia Ayumi Yokota Harayashiki; Southern Cross University

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ÂŠ Photo | adimas (Adobe Stock)

AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

AMSA 2017 Conference Report Ed Butler AMSA 2017 Conference Chair AMSA 2017 was held at the Doubletree Hilton / Darwin Entertainment Centre complex on the Esplanade in Darwin. It marked the return to the Top End after twelve years. The theme was ‘Connections through Shallow Seas’, which served to highlight the shallow Timor and Arafura Seas to Australia’s north and the various connections, biophysical and cultural. This conference brought in the latter to emphasise the relevance of a social element in communicating marine science effectively, and the value of working in partnerships with Indigenous communities and regionally with neighbour countries. Northern Australia, and Darwin specifically, was an entirely apt location for the 54th AMSA annual conference. National attention has been drawn to Northern Development, but the marine environment had until now been pushed to the background by a land-based political focus.

About 340 delegates attended the conference, with significant representation from Asian nations (including 20 from Indonesia). Almost 270 presentations were brought together in a diverse scientific program of 17 symposia and four general sessions. We continued the initiative from AMSA 2015 with PEP talks (five-minute oral presentation with conference-long digital poster) replacing traditional posters, and extended to operate the conference under an ‘Eventranet’ web site. The conference began with a stirring Welcome to Country given by Larrakia elder Tony Lee. The Northern Territory Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Lauren Moss declared AMSA 2017 officially open.

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP Plenary sessions were pivotal to AMSA 2017 and featured an array of rousing and topical talks. Helene Marsh launched the scientific program, picking up the conference theme with ‘Ecological and cultural connections through coastal seas enabled by marine megafauna’. Tim Moltmann followed with ‘Implementing the National Marine Science Plan’. The plenary address on Tuesday morning was given by Julie Hall, providing perspective from New Zealand with ‘Integrating social science, economics, indigenous knowledge and marine science to underpin decision making for management of our marine environment’. Nic Bax returned to Australia: ‘2016 State of Environment Report for the Marine Environment. Where are we and where might we be going?’. The plenary session on the second day concluded with ´’Traditional management of marine resources in the Torres Strait’, given by Hilda Mosby and Frank Loban of the Torres Strai Regional Authority. Wednesday was given over first to the winner of the AMSA Silver Jubilee Award: Peter Steinberg reflected on ‘Drugs, bugs and seaweeds: multidisciplinary marine science’. Alistair Hobday followed with a plenary address on ‘Bluefin, connectivity, climate, and adaptation’, and few will forget his exhortation to communicate science as optimists, rather than doomsayers. Thursday’s plenary had a different flavour in celebrating a decade of IMOS, with four inspiring invited talks from Moninya Roughan, Richard Brinkman, Robert Harcourt and Anthony Richardson.

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP AMSA 2017 continued the recent tradition of a Public Forum. It was held on the Monday evening; the topic was: ‘Northern Development – How does marine fit? | Australia’s Shallow Tropical Seas – Resource and/ or Refuge?’ Along with marine scientists, the panel comprised representatives of Traditional Owners, government, industry, and NGOs. A wide-ranging discussion was had, very ably convened and facilitated by Luke Bowen (NT Department of Trade, Business and Innovation). A consensus across the panel seemed to be that the marine realm needed to feature more strongly in the conversation on Northern Development, recognising the overwhelming ownership of coastal regions in northern Australia by Traditional Owners, and with the proviso that it was overseen by effective ecosystem-based management. Associated with the scientific program was a supporting series of workshops. These were diverse, ranging across Indigenous Engagement, ‘Getting Published’ (for postgraduate students and early career researchers), ‘Using Novel Technologies to Answer Key Questions in Marine Science’, and ‘Connectivity and Coastal Habitat Utilisation’ (including a sunset cruise on inner Darwin Harbour). The Indigenous Engagement Workshop was a standout in providing compelling examples of two-way partnerships encompassing Traditional Ecological Knowledge and western science.

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Social activities were also prominent with the Icebreaker to begin--in the Reflections Room (exhibition space) and Water Gardens of the conference venue Doubletree Hilton Darwin Esplanade, and a student night (with all delegates invited) at a local tavern on the Darwin waterfront that kept everyone entertained with a trivia quiz. The Gala Conference Dinner was a striking example of Territory lifestyle, held under lights in the open in the Darwin Botanic Gardens. It had an air of informality and variety, but still incorporated the perennial events (Student Awards, Photographic Competition prizes and the Sherwood Award). The local band ‘The Kicks’ inspired many to dance the evening away under the stars—not to forget the purple-lit boab tree. The organising committee—Sharon Every, Samantha Nowland, Claire Streten, Kelly Mackarous, Vinay Udyawer, Katherine Dafforn, Krystle Keller, Shannon Burchert and Britta Decker (with earlier Karen Gibb, Jacqueline Taylor, Ruth Patterson and Madeline Goddard)—an outstanding job in bringing it all together. The scientific committee under Claire Streten’s exemplary leadership (David Griffin, Maria Byrne, Lynnath Beckley, Robert McCauley, Alicia Sutton, Mark Meekan, Edward Butler and Ruth Patterson) put together an excellent and diverse program to suit national priorities. Working very commendably behind the scenes, and making it all function like clockwork was professional conference organiser Agentur (Britta and team) and the unflappable duo from Paperless Events (Angela and Andrew), driving the live conference Eventranet (https://amsa2017.paperlessevents.com.au) website so well. Traditional media activity was busy, expertly handled by Rachel Przeslawski, and social media was buzzing (the hashtag #AMSA2017 was trending in the top five nationally at times during the conference). In order to spread key messages from the conference widely, an AMSA 2017 communiqué has been

released. This can be downloaded from the national AMSA web site. Other conference material can be downloaded from the conference web site (events. amsaconference.net – before it is transferred to the AMSA 2018 committee) or the Eventranet site mentioned above.

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

AMSA Awards

Each year the Australian Marine Sciences Association proudly presents awards to individuals recognising outstanding contributions to marine science in Australia. Award selection committees, appointed by AMSA Council, are constituted to review nominations. These awards are presented at the AMSA Annual Conference each year. AMSA Jubilee Award First awarded in AMSAs Silver Jubilee Year (1988) our professional award recognises excellence in marine research and is presented to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to marine research in Australia. AMSA Technical Award This award recognises outstanding achievements in the field of technical support for marine sciences, to celebrate the valuable contribution logistical and support services make to enabling marine research. AMSA Allen Award The Allen Award is to support an outstanding postgraduate student to attend an international conference each year, in any field of marine science, with the aim of providing the student with the opportunity to gain international experience and contacts. By attending the international conference the student will serve an important role as an ambassador for Australian marine science through improving awareness in the international scientific community of the work of Australian research students. AMSA members are encouraged to submit nominations for the Jubilee, Technical and Allen Awards. The annual call for nominations closes 28th February each year - check the AMSA website (www.amsa.asn.au) for details. 14

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Jubilee Award

Professor Peter Steinberg Director - Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences (SIMS) Co-Director - The Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation (CMB) Professor - School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Professor Peter Steinberg is a renowned authority in the areas of marine chemical ecology and surface colonisation (including biofilms), as well as a leading proponent of the “macro-micro” approach to environmental microbiology. He received his Ph.D from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently a Professor in the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales as well as the Director and CEO of the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences. Throughout his career he has blended traditional marine experimental ecology with natural products chemistry. Indeed, he is widely considered as one of the founders of marine chemical ecology. Moreover, Steinberg’s multidisciplinary approach to understanding the colonisation of surfaces integrated

marine ecology with molecular microbiology, larval biology, biofilms and synthetic chemistry to fundamentally change the way we think about interactions of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes with surfaces in the sea. This work resulted in both the first natural inhibitor of bacterial cell-cell signalling (quorum sensing) as well as the first characterised and quantified natural chemical inducer of settlement for a marine invertebrate. Most recently, over the last 10 years Professor Steinberg has incorporated cutting-edge environmental sequencing and ‘omics into his work, becoming a leader in integrating ecological theory and concepts with environmental microbiology, or the “macromicro” approach. Photo: John Turnbull

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Technical Award Mr Brent Womersley, Chief Technical Officer Fisheries Victoria

Brent Womersley has been a technical officer at Fisheries Victoria since 2001, and the chief technical officer in the fisheries research section for about the last decade. Brent has been an integral part of most field research at Fisheries Victoria over the last 13-14 years. He not only provides hands-on research assistance, but is also responsible for logistical support for at times up to 5 research vessels, tow vehicles, dive operations and equipment, including Nitrox compressor, and a warehouse of field equipment.

Throughout his career Brent has proved extremely versatile, adapting and acquiring new skills as required to best support the programs he is involved in. Brent has consistently maintained a high level of support for all projects heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involved in and is well respected amongst his colleagues for his unflappable nature and ability to always find a way to get the work done. He has been a reliable leader and/or member of numerous campaigns, spending 1000â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of hours at sea and 100s of hours underwater in the service of science.

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Allen Award

AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Ms Paige Kelly PhD Student Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC

Paige Kelly is a student at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania & Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC. Paigeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PhD research is examining the co-occurrence of salps and Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean; she is applying a range of techniques from classic microscopy to chemical assays such as bomb calorimetry and stable isotope analysis, and finally incorporating modelling designed to understand energy flow to higher predators. In particular, Paige will examine two important energy pathways in the Southern Ocean: that which moves primary

production through krill to top predators and the alternative and poorly understood HNAN-salps-higher predators pathway. If reduced duration and thickness of sea ice eventually reduce krill biomass in the Southern Ocean, then salps could become the biomass-dominant species; however, at present our understanding of salps in the ecosystem is very poor. Paigeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research is both timely and important for addressing this issue. With the award Paige will be attending two conferences, the 3rd International Symposium On Krill and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Biology Symposium 2017.

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Conference Awards The Australian Marine Sciences Association aims to celebrate and recognise excellence of student marine research. At each annual AMSA conference, outstanding student presentations and posters are recognised by awarding the following Prizes.

The Ron Kenny Prizes The Ron Kenny Student Presentation Prize for the best full-length oral presentation of research results and the Ron Kenny Student Poster Prize for the best poster display of research results. The prizes are named in honour of Assoc. Prof. Ron Kenny, a foundation member of the Association and editor of its Bulletin for nine years until his death in August 1987. The purpose of the prizes is to reward excellence in scientific work by students in any field of marine science, and to encourage a high standard of scientific communication. The prizes are provided by a special Trust Fund maintained by AMSA, and are the Association’s major form of recognition and encouragement of student effort.

Peter Holloway Oceanography Prize The prize, originating in 2002, is awarded to the best full-length student oral presentation related to Oceanography. This prize is partly funded by interest on funds donated to AMSA by the Australian Physical Oceanography Division of AMSA when it ceased to function as a separate entity in mid 2002, and from the Peter Holloway Memorial Symposium at AMSA2004 in Hobart. Peter Holloway was a highly distinguished, physical oceanographer, internationally recognized for his contribution to the observation, theory and numerical modeling of internal waves.

Fisheries Research Development Corporation Prize The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) student prize was first awarded in 2002. FRDC student prizes are supported by funding from the FRDC on behalf of the Australian Government. The FRDC sponsored prizes are to be given to any category of student presenting within one year of completing their respective study course. The subject matter of the talk/poster must be consistent with Programs 1 or 2 of FRDC’s Research and Development Plan, namely Natural Resources Sustainability and Industry Development. If no suitable winners are identified, a prize will be withheld. As a condition of acceptance of this prize, FRDC is to be provided with profiles, photos and write-ups of the prize-winners and their research for consideration for publication in FRDC’s regular newsletter, or social media.

Ernest Hodgkin Estuary Research Prize Donated by The Committee of the Ernest Hodgkin Trust for Estuary Education and Research, this prize is to be awarded annually for the best student presentation on research that will facilitate a greater understanding of estuarine processes and management.

Victorian Marine Science Consortium Prize The Victorian Marine Science Consortium (VMSC) is a consortium of five Victorian tertiary institutions (Deakin University, Monash University, RMIT University, The University of Melbourne and Victoria University), together with CSIRO, EPA Victoria, and the State Government’s Marine and Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute (MAFFRI). VMSC operates marine teaching and research laboratories at Queenscliff, on the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, a large embayment on the southeast coast of Australia. The VMSC facilities are available through negotiation to anyone with an interest in marine science. The VMSC Management Committee aim to provide encouragement to young scientists and have sponsored an annual student prize for best presentation on temperate marine sciences made at the AMSA annual conference.

Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation Prize The Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation (SWRRFI) has made a commitment to support the annual AMSA conference by donating a prize for the Best Student Poster in the area of Science and Conservation of Marine Vertebrates. The winning student must agree to their poster to be included as an insert in the annual SWRRFI newsletter which is distributed to the scientific, zoological, education, corporate and general communities both nationally and internationally. The SWRRFI Committee and Sea World are pleased to be able to offer financial support to students through this forum and look forward to a rewarding association with AMSA and its members.

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The Ron Kenny Prize (Oral)

AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Fletcher Mingramm PhD Student | University of Queensland Multi-matrix endocrine analysis of cetaceans: Development of techniques for reproductive and adrenal assessment I grew up on the coast with a father in the navy, so the ocean became a part of my life at an early age. During high school, several mentors helped fuel this passion by taking me on spearfishing and surfing adventures. Throughout these years, I volunteered for aquariums and other wildlife facilities, and worked within the dive industry. I pursued studies in marine science at university and have worked in the field ever since. We know relatively little about the largest animals that have ever roamed our earth, the whales. In particular, we have a poor understanding of how healthy individuals are in a population and possess few ways to monitor key populations rates (e.g. pregnancy rates). My research is focussing on developing techniques to monitor pregnancy, male sexual activity and stress in whales and dolphins. To do this, I have focussed on two sampling methods: tissue biopsying and respiratory vapour (‘blow’) sampling. Initially, we sampled captive bottlenose dolphins for both blubber and ‘blow’ in order to develop and optimise reproductive and “stress” hormone-monitoring techniques. Additional testing (blood collection, ultrasounds and semen assessments) was conducted at the same time to determine female reproductive state and male sexual activity. We then applied our ‘blow’ and blubber sampling techniques to free-ranging and stranded humpback whales.

I found that blubber progesterone was consistently highest in pregnant bottlenose dolphins. Interestingly, ‘blow’ levels were also higher; however, we found the ‘blow’ hormones were influenced by a range of other factors (sample volume, seawater contamination, sampling material). Large variation in blubber progesterone was also observed in female humpback whales; however, without additional information (e.g. photo IDs with/without a calf) we cannot diagnose pregnancies. Elevated cortisol levels appear to relate to incidences of severe “stress” in both species. It is an honour to be recognised by your peers based on the merit of your work. Given the list of previous Ron Kenny Award winners I feel lucky to be part of such a select group. I am excited by the prospect that my research may positively impact future cetacean research.

Supervisors: Rebecca Dunlop, Tamara Keeley, Deanne Whitworth, Jonathan Hill

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The Ron Kenny Prize (PEP) Cassandra Pert Masters Student | University of Melbourne Barrens of gold: gonad conditioning of an overabundant sea urchin My love for marine science began in high school, when I was lucky enough to travel to Orpheus Island to complete my biology studies. After weeks of snorkelling and surveying coral, I was completely hooked by this new world! After graduating, I started a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, majoring in marine biology. Next, I was eager to perform my own research, so began a Master of Science researching sea urchin aquaculture. The prevalence and persistence of sea urchin barrens is a devastating issue in many temperate reef systems around the world. Urchin barrens are formed by overgrazing of overabundant sea urchins, resulting in desolate areas characterised by an absence of kelp, low biodiversity and low primary productivity. In Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay, over 60% of all rocky reefs now exist as urchin barrens containing approximately 4,300 tons of the native purple urchin, Heliocidaris erythrogramma. As purple urchin gonads are a delicacy in many countries, commercial harvest from barrens could aid kelp recovery. However, the lack of macroalgae in these habitats, driven by high urchin densities, results in urchins with small, poor quality roe that is commercially undesirable. To overcome this, I assessed whether urchin gonad quantity and quality could be improved with access to high-quality feed and optimal environmental conditions, a process known as ‘gonad conditioning’.

Gonad conditioning effectively increased the gonad size of purple urchins from barrens during the harvest season by up to 2.8 times. The mean gonad index of conditioned urchins from barrens was 16%, which is above the threshold for commercial size (10%). These results show that targeted in-season harvest from barrens and subsequent gonad conditioning produces roe of commercial quality, promoting the use of commercial urchin harvest as a tool for managing urchin barrens. It was an incredible honour to receive the Ron Kenny Award at the 2017 AMSA conference, especially as it was my first time presenting at a conference. The recognition has given me greater confidence in my science communication skills and has made me feel extremely welcome in the AMSA community.

Supervisors: Stephen Swearer and Tim Dempster

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The Ron Kenny Prize (Highly Commended)

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Augustine Porter PhD Student | University of Sydney 3D mapping and fish: What structure do fish respond to? As a kid my parents couldn’t keep me away from the water. Lakes, rivers, the ocean, anything that could conceivably have a fish in it, I wanted in. After 7 years of working in the industry, it was time to get a PhD. I was lucky enough to land a project with Will Figueira. Fish love structure. But what structure? We’re at a point where a lot of man-made things are going into the water. And there is interest in making much of it “fish friendly”. But how exactly we do that is still unclear. I’m developing and using 3D mapping to address this question. Will Figueira, Renata Ferrari and I have developed new methods to capture marine substrates in 3D at very high resolution, over fish-relevant extents. By interrogating these meshes and comparing the data to fish distribution, I’m examining the effect habitat features have on fish. This will allow us to better inform endeavours like ecoengineering, artificial reef construction and industrial mitigation measures. The study included man-made breakwalls as an extreme case of structural complexity. The fish assemblages at these

structures are both highly abundant, and quite different than at natural reefs. In terms of on-ground construction advice: it’s clear that different fish respond to different feature sizes. Local fish appear to love features ranging from 0.1 m3 (toaster size) to 1.0 m3 (washing machine size), while transient species respond to much larger features. With science communication being a focus of AMSA 2017, it is a great honour to be acknowledged for a presentation. The work we marine scientists do is important and meaningful, and AMSA was full of excellent talks. It’s an honour to be acknowledged.

Supervisors: Will Figueira, Ross Coleman and Renata Ferrari

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The Ron Kenny Prize (Highly Commended) Janine Ledet PhD Student | University of New South Wales Short and long-term effects of temperature and diet on a marine herbivore I think that my appreciation for the ocean began with SCUBA diving at a young age. The fascination with breathing underwater and the personal experience that you have with the wildlife was incredible to me as a kid. The jump towards a professional career in marine science started when I did the research-immersive Three Seas Program at Northeastern University (Boston, USA). Travelling, diving, and studying during that year solidified my love for marine research. Current climate research tends to use the response to extreme temperatures as a model for future stress, but few studies have considered low level, long-term warming as a measure for change. My research aims at determining the response of this stress on macroalgal reefs across many levels: from the individual to the community. I use a marine amphipod and its macroalgal resource as a model for this interaction. I believe that considering many factors and measuring multiple response variables will provide a better picture of the overall response that ecosystems will experience. My projects have revolved around the idea of gauging multiple measures of success over long and shortterm periods of time. This allows for a complete response to

be collected, which can then allow us to understand how the community in a bigger picture. My main findings revolve around the importance of diet in response to warming for future generations. Amphipods that are provided with a high-quality diet during heat stress respond significantly better in future generations than those that are fed a poor-quality diet. Also, adult amphipod size is greater under warmer temperatures, while juvenile growth is only conditional on the diet they are provided. These results allow us a greater understanding of how resource availability will alter population growth under extreme climate events. For me, this award is validation that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m on the correct path even if there is a long way still to go. It was an honour to have my research be well-received by my peers and this experience will continue to be a reminder that confidence in your ideas and working hard will pay off in the end.

Supervisor: Alistair Poore

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Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (Oral) Samantha Nowland PhD Student | University of the Sunshine Coast The tropical rock oyster Aboriginal economic development project: challenges, success and opportunities I learned to dive in Darwin Harbour when I was 15 and was hooked. I studied marine biology at James Cook University and it was there I became passionate about aquaculture for livelihoods. I graduated with a double major in marine biology and aquaculture and went on to do an honours on a sea cucumber aquaculture project for livelihoods in Papua New Guinea. The Northern Territory Governments tropical rock oyster project aims to supply local markets with a premium, native oyster produced by Aboriginal Territorians in the pristine waters of northern Australia. The focus is new industry development based on local resource use, resulting in wellbeing benefits for local people. My PhD work is focused on further developing and optimising hatchery culture techniques for tropical blacklip rock oysters (Saccostrea mytiloides) to permit the development of small-scale tropical rock oyster aquaculture in remote communities. There is an overwhelming lack of basic life history knowledge on blacklip rock oysters. This project aims to fill this gap in scientific knowledge and provide valuable information to facilitate the hatchery culture of blacklip rock oysters. It will do this by investigating; the genetic differentiation between populations of potential broodstock,

reproductive cycles for these populations, spawning induction techniques, optimal larval culture conditions and larval biochemistry. This information will provide a solid foundation to support the development of hatchery culture for this new aquaculture species. Because of the lack of information on this species any new information is a big step forward. Most studies are still underway and results not yet finalized. However my work has confirmed that blacklip continuously spawn throughout the wet season. This has enabled hatcheries to focus efforts for the best chances of larval rearing success. For the bigger picture industry development aim it is clear that success lies in long-term, co-operative partnerships that are based on trust and driven and led by the community. There were so many great student presentations at AMSA 2017 and I feel extremely honoured to receive this award. A lot of work from many people and partner organisations goes into this project and it is wonderful for these efforts to be recognised.

Supervisors: Paul Southgate, Abigail Elizur and Wayne Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor

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Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (PEP)

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Catherine Kim PhD Student | University of Queensland Biodiversity of Coral Reef Cryptofuana in Relation to Coral Reef Habitat in TimorLeste My favourite place to go as a child was the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We went at least once a year from the time I was in 4th grade until I graduated high school. I was fortunate to be able to take a marine biology class in high school and never stopped. Timor-Leste is a member-state of the Coral Triangle, the region of highest marine diversity globally. Coral reef organisms can be divided into three major categories: reef fishes, corals, and cryptofauna. The later are the critters that live within the coral reef structure and are difficult to study. With the advent of novel sampling and genetic techniques we can begin to assess the full extent of coral reef cryptofauna biodiversity. Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) were developed as a systematic way to sample cryptofauna. These structures are comprised of PVC plates to form 27 cm3 cube, artificial habitat that are deployed on reefs for 1-3 years before being collected and processed. I completed the DNA barcoding for the brachyuran crabs sampled from 22 ARMS deployed by the

US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Timor-Leste from 2012-2014. A total of 278 brachyuran crabs were successfully sequenced, and 37% of the sequences were unique to Timor-Leste. Additionally, most of the crabs sampled were rare, with 45% only occurring once and another 25% occurring four or less times. A rarefaction curve of number of individuals sequenced over number of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;speciesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; indicates that further sampling effort would capture more species. It is exciting to share my research centred on Timor-Leste with a wider audience and it is clear there is still much more to learn about marine cryptofauna. Timor-Leste is a young, developing country and this award is a good opportunity to promote its culture, natural beauty, and emerging economies.

Supervisors: Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Sophie Dove, Chris Roelfsema

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Ernest Hodgkin Estuary Research Prize Tahlia Stelling-Wood PhD Student | University of New South Wales Using functional traits to predict macroalgae associated communities in temperate subtidal reefs I actually originally began university studying molecular biotechnology. I soon realised it wasn’t for me and transferred into a general science degree and this is where I got my first taste of marine science. I later came back to do a Master of Marine Science & Management, then loved it so much I did a Master of Philosophy, working on sandy beaches and finally here I am 8 years later doing my PhD. My research looks at the relationship between the physical environment and associated fauna in macroal-gae reefs. It is widely accepted that more complex habitats host more diverse communities; however the mechanisms behind these relationships are poorly understood. Current group-based approaches have failed to consistently explain this relationship. In comparison, functional trait-based approaches have shown great promise, however their application to marine systems has been limited. My research investigates the use of these approaches to better understand this relationship. I use morphological traits of macroalgae to try and predict associated communities. Currently most trait-based approaches have primarily been concerned with interspecific variation, however macroalgae are known to demonstrate high morphological variability and therefore it is likely that intraspecific variation will play a significant role in determining associated communities.

In response to this I am using traditional trait means in my analysis but also including trait variance measures to incorporate intraspecific variation as well. My research showed that macroalgae demonstrate high inter- and intraspecific variation. Most interestingly my data shows a positive relationship between abundance and variation in frond surface-area (the variation that occurs within an individual), however only for macroalgae species that were highly variable. Within these more variable species epifauna abundances were highest on more variable individuals. This suggests intraspecific variation does play a role in determining community structure but only when variability is high. It was an honour to win this award and I guess I take it as a formal appreciation for the work I’ve done. The award is also a really nice confirmation that I’m on the right path, and motivates me to keep doing what I’m doing.

Supervisors: Alistair Poore and Paul Gribben

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Victorian Marine Science Consortium Nathan Janetzki PhD Candidate | Flinders University Thermal extremes: How three intertidal snails respond to surface temperature As a teenager I enjoyed spending my weekends catching sand whiting in Warnbro Sound, Western Australia, and over time developed a strong passion for fishing and exploring the marine environment. Upon completing high school I applied for and was accepted into a Bachelor of marine science at Murdoch University. Temperature has been identified as one of the major environmental stressors on rocky seashores. However, we know surprisingly little about the surface temperature of different rock types on the seashore, and how substrate surface temperature may affect intertidal biodiversity. My research aims to quantify the thermal characteristics of different rock types, and establish how three species of grazing snail interact with the thermal characteristics of different rock types. I used a thermal imaging camera to measure the surface temperature of small intertidal boulders (<30 cm maximum length) for six rock types. As the six rock types do not occur simultaneously at any seashore, and there are factors that may confound seashore temperature measurements (i.e. tides, wave splash and shading), I constructed an artificial boulder field away from the seashore to measure surface temperature phenomena of the rocks. I discovered that the six boulder rock types had different surface temperatures. Moreover, there was a mosaic of warmer and cooler temperatures on boulder surfaces, as opposed to a uniform surface temperature. Seashores where the hottest (a grey siltstone) and coldest (quartzite) rock

types were sourced were then sampled to determine how three snail species responded to temperature mosaics. All three species occupied locations significantly cooler than maximum temperatures and significantly warmer than minimum temperatures. I am humbled to receive this award given the volume and quality of student research showcased at the conference in Darwin. For someone who has historically spoken poorly in public, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great to be acknowledged and to realise that I am improving my science communication skills.

Supervisors: Peter Fairweather and Kirsten Benkendorff

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Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation Award Sonia Sãnchez PhD Student | Monash University Reconstruction of the habitat use of an iconic marine top predator, little penguin: a tool to manage and conserve ecosystems I grew up spending my summers snorkelling in the Mediterranean and looking for crabs on the rocks with my dad. But I think I realised the ocean was my thing when I watched The Blue Planet series. I was lucky to do my Master thesis in the Institute of Marine Science (Barcelona, Spain) and had the opportunity to spend time in research vessels. Then, I decided I wanted to work in marine research. Seabirds are powerful indicators of marine ecosystem health and change. However, they are also more threatened than other comparable groups of birds and their status has deteriorated faster over recent decades. The availability and abundance of their food is very variable and depends on complex oceanographic processes. My research aims to identify ecologically important areas where seabirds feed to protect the food they depend upon and inform further conservation and management measures. I am using little penguins from Phillip Island as a model to address my question. I attach a GPS tracker and accelerometer (aka Fitbit) to the back of breeding penguins. GPS trackers record penguins’ horizontal movements and Fitbits record their diving and feeding activity. By combining all data, I know where penguins went, where and how deep they dived

and where they found prey, so I can reconstruct their habitat use and identify important areas. GPS tracks revealed a strong spatial segregation between two breeding sites located 2 km apart. I also found differences in habitat use over the breeding season and between sites. When provisioning chicks, birds dove deeper and spent more time pursuing prey than when incubating eggs. On the other hand, penguins from one site dove deeper and found prey at deeper depth. These findings support the importance of linking movement, behaviour and environment to reconstruct free-ranging seabirds’ activity. It was an honour to receive this award. It means that my research is significant and hopefully I’m in the right path to make a difference in seabird ecology and conservation, although there still a long way to go. It will also remind me hard work always pays off!

Supervisors: Richard Reina and Andre Chiaradia

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AMSA 2017 Photo Competition The Australian Marine Sciences Association holds an annual photo competition, which coincides with the yearly conference. This year, an additional category was added encouraging researchers to submit photos which depicted ‘their research in a meme’.

My Research in a Meme Rachel Przeslawski Worm: Underwater no one can hear you scream

Life in the Shallow Seas Krystle Keller Fish in the shallows: Yellowtail fusilier swim past a nearby onlooker in the Whitsundays, QLD

Landscapes and seascapes of Australia Zhi Huang Intertidal Habitat: Complex intertidal zone provides habitat for a range of marine biota

Research in Action Vincent Raoult Millennium Falcon: MicroCT image of angel shark vertebrae

Peoples Choice Krystle Keller Fish sampling by sunset: A group of students sample for fish by seine just as the sun sets in Smiths lake,

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Krystle Keller Fish in the shallows 32

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Zhi Huang Intertidal Habitat

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AMSA CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

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Vincent Raoult Millennium Falcon

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Krystle Keller Fish sampling by sunset

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Sneak Peek: AMSA 2018 Ryan Baring and Kathryn Wiltshire AMSA South Australia Branch On behalf of the South Australian organising committee we are pleased to announce the 2018 Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA) conference. The 2018 Annual AMSA Conference will be held in the heart of the city of Adelaide at the newly renovated, world class Adelaide Convention Centre during 1st to 5th July 2018. AMSA is Australia’s peak professional body for marine science with near 1000 members from diverse disciplines and workplaces throughout all states and territories. For over 50 years AMSA has promoted all aspects of marine science in Australia as a membership network of professionals and corporate affiliates as a not-for-profit organisation. The 2018 organising committee and the SA State Branch are thrilled to be your hosts for the 55th AMSA conference and we are pleased to invite you to Adelaide for what will be a showcase of a new era in Australian marine science. The South Australian AMSA branch has been working hard this year to get the ball rolling for the AMSA 2018 conference in Adelaide. We are now in full swing with organising the conference, which will see most of our local efforts going into making AMSA 2018 a successful event. Our organising committee chair and co-chair, Ryan Baring and Kathryn Wiltshire, along with our scientific committee chair Sabine Dittmann, launched AMSA 2018 “Canyons to Coast” at the Darwin conference in July. Coinciding with the launch, the website (www.AMSA18.amsa.asn.au) went live; new content will be added regularly, and there is a link for anyone interested in next year’s conference to register to receive updates. The following statement from the scientific committee explains the theme for AMSA 2018: “Canyons to Coast”. Deep sea canyons intercepting the shelf are increasingly recognised for their importance driving oceanographic processes, productivity, and feeding aggregations of marine mammals. Exchange processes and connectivity between abyssal plains, canyons, seamounts, ridges, the shelf and across to the coast are, however, less well known. The relevance of topographic features and their associated habitat types in mediating biodiversity patterns is also just emerging. Exploration and investigation have advanced with technology, yet challenges persist for deep-sea discoveries to advance basic and applied science. For a long time, the ‘Catchment to Coast’ concept has influenced the research and management agenda. This conference seeks to progress the scientific understanding by shifting the perspective deeper to the interconnectedness between the coast and deep sea. The need to understand patterns and processes of the geology, oceanography, and biodiversity in this

interconnected ocean sphere has intensified with rising resource uses and conservation efforts in a growing Blue Economy. Furthermore, climate change effects the productivity as well as biogenic carbonate producers on both temperate and tropical shelfs, and it changes species communities through increased tropicalisation of temperate waters. Marine protected areas are expanding within territorial seas, the exclusive economic zones and in areas beyond national jurisdictions. This conference is inviting presentations of research addressing the deep sea, canyons, seamounts and ridges, high seas, shelf ecosystems, coastal ecosystems, and oceanographic and ecological processes in between. Our aspiration is to attract multiple disciplines and facilitate synergies through interdisciplinary plenary sessions. A call for symposia will be made in mid-2017, so keep an eye on your e-mail inbox for that. General session themes will be offered and several workshops are envisaged before and after the conference. We are also seeking an accompanying exhibition to showcase the latest technological advancements and methodologies to survey and explore deep sea and shelf habitats. As deep sea research thrives on international collaboration, we are reaching out to the global marine science community to contribute to this conference with an aim to derive commonalities for processes between canyons and coast, or identify idiosyncrasies that are habitat specific. This overview will advance our understanding and raise the perspective for canyon to coast connectivity. Be sure to mark July 1st to 5th 2018 in your diary and we look forward to seeing many of you in Adelaide for what is sure to be a great conference.

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FEATURE

Features Marine Park Drafts Released

marine parks, the government has committed an additional $56.1 million over four years. Ms Barnes and her team considered comments from over 54,000 submissions providing feedback on the preparation of draft plans. “Before creating these plans, my team and I met with many of you from across our country. We listened to many people, fishers, conservationists, tourism operators, traditional owners and coastal communities before writing these plans,” said Ms Barnes. “These draft plans balance our commitment to protect the marine environment, while supporting a sustainable fishing industry, promoting tourism and providing cultural, recreational and economic benefits for coastal communities.”

Sarah Marley AMSA Communications Officer The long-awaited draft plans for Australian Marine Parks were released in July, and the feedback process closed earlier this month. So what has changed? The Director of National Parks, Sally Barnes, released the draft management plans on 21st July 2017. She said Australian Marine Parks recognised the oceans as a shared resource. “Our marine parks protect important marine habitats and species,” said Ms Barnes. “They also support people’s livelihoods and the Australian lifestyle. They provide places for people to watch wildlife, dive and snorkel, go boating, and fish. They create jobs in industries like fishing and tourism, and are a source of food and energy.”

This feedback process continued, with the public invited to comment on the draft management plans until the 20th September 2017. Comments from the latest round are now under consideration, including a submission made by AMSA.

Australian Marine Parks (also known as Commonwealth Marine Reserves) were established in 2012 to protect Australia’s oceans. They start at the outer edge of state and territory waters, generally no less than 3 nm (5.5 km) from the shore, and extend to the outer boundary of Australia’s exclusive economic zone. Overall, Australia’s marine parks now cover more than 3.3 million square-kilometres of ocean, an area the size of India. The recently released draft management plans represent 44 Australian Marine Parks in Commonwealth waters off the coast of New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. “Finalising these plans makes us one of the world’s leaders in marine protection,” said Ms Barnes. “Already our country’s marine parks cover 36% of waters around this country. That’s more than comparable to many similar countries like the United States, France, Canada, Mexico or Chile.” The draft plans now include three colour-coded zones. Green Zones represent the highest level of protection and focus on conservation features, such as canyons, seamounts, and reefs. Yellow Zones allow for sustainable use by activities like fishing and diving, so long as the seafloor is not harmed. Blue Zones allow the widest range of activities, supporting sustainable commercial industries. Under the zoning proposed in the draft plans, the portion of green (or no take) zones within all of the marine parks managed by the Commonwealth would be 25%. Approximately 97% of waters within 100 km of the coast will be open for recreational fishing. To fund the management of Australian © Photo | Sylvia Osterrieder

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FEATURE

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FEATURE

Marmion Marine Park – Thirty Years On John Ottaway Chief Environmental Officer (198488), Marine Impacts Branch, Former Department of Conservation and Environment The Marmion Marine Park was announced by the WA Government in May 1987 and was gazetted in September 1987. Thirty years ago, it was the first of the marine parks and reserves created in WA by the State Government. Since then the multi-use Marmion Marine Park has been clearly a success – in part evidenced by the two million visitors every year estimated by the Department of Parks and Wildlife. It is worth noting that, at the time, the proposal for a marine park offshore from the ‘Whitford Nodes’, and the related proposal to site a new recreational boat harbour within the park, was highly controversial. A 1985 request published in local papers, from the then Department of Conservation and Environment (DCE) for public inputs into the proposals, generated thousands of written submissions against the boat harbour, scores of submissions against the marine park, and just six submissions supporting one or other of the two proposals. The general location of the then potential ‘M10 marine reserve’ was identified by the DCE’s ‘System Six study team’ during 1976 to 1983, and appeared as such in the ‘System Six’ reports in the early 1980s. In 1985, our Chief Executive Officer Barry Carbon astutely recognised an opportunity to obtain special extra Government funding to allow the DCE’s Marine Branch to undertake about two years of intensive environmental impacts and social impacts studies on the proposed marine park, on the proposed boat harbour, and on the implications of having the boat harbour within the marine park. That culminated in successive briefings to the WA EPA, during 1985 to 1987, for the EPA to recommend to the Environment Minister in Cabinet the creation of the park, and to recommend the boat harbour could also proceed.

As part of the extensive public consultation process, departmental staff (then Department of Environment DoE) in late-1986 took large poster displays of the proposals and possible options for implementation to shopping centres in the northern coastal suburbs, with staff attending the displays and answering questions during the days and during late-closing evenings. Staff also took pamphlets to people found using the beaches, to people using the northern coastal boat ramps, and to some homes fronting the coast, to engage with local people. The feedback was that the local people who had any views on the proposals overwhelmingly either supported the proposals or supported them but had some concerns about issues. SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

FEATURE The three main issues were whether the boat harbour activities would result in unacceptable increased pollution (mainly noise and hydrocarbons), whether recreational fishing activities would be curtailed, and whether residential land values in the area would be adversely affected. Some of the many other issues raised in the submissions were concerns that the boat harbour would result in increased coastal erosion to the north, that increased use of the immediately offshore area would degrade its perceived existing ‘pristine’ environments, and that “... inevitable pollution ... would result in a starfish plague”. DoE’s marine ecological and social impact studies during 1985 and 1986 determined that the offshore areas had long since moved past being ‘pristine’ due to fishing and other pressures including decades of anchor damage to seagrass meadows and the siting of a treated wastewater outfall. The study teams concluded that, properly managed, the boat harbour sited within the marine park could actually become an asset. Hence, controversially, the DoE’s study teams successively briefed the WA EPA that it should recommend to the Environment Minister in Cabinet that both the marine park and the boat harbour could proceed, subject to a suite of mandatory Ministerial conditions. By early 1987, the park boundaries had been determined, Cabinet had agreed on the names (Marmion Marine Park and Hillarys Boat Harbour), and DoE had produced a comprehensive draft management plan for the park, as a 10,500 hectare multi-use area including no-take areas and other areas where various forms of fishing were allowed. Barry Carbon then obtained further special Government funding so that the marine park, announced by the Government in May 1987 would have the appropriate resources to be properly managed. Marmion Marine Park was formally gazetted in September 1987. In mid-1987, the Marmion Marine Park was transferred to the then Department of Conservation and Land Management, as a going concern complete with the resources required for its ongoing management. The Department of Marine and Harbours became the manager for Hillarys Boat Harbour. Hence, the creation and gazettal of the Marmion Marine Park was the result of a series of events which happened to align:

• The considerable, solid scientific work undertaken during 1976 to 1983, which included identifying that ‘M10’ area as worthy of ‘marine reserve’ status; • The serendipitous winning of the America’s Cup races in 1983, by a Western Australian syndicate, which then resulted in the WA Government in 1984 wanting to build a new small boat harbour on the northern metropolitan coastline near Perth; • A new CEO, who in 1985 recognised the political opportunity to gain additional funds for two years of intensive further marine and other related scientific work; • An existing government marine ecological research group which, with the new resources, was able to rapidly expand to deliver the required research results during 1985 to 1987; and then, • Further action by our CEO to gain the resources to ensure the gazetted park could be managed into a functioning, ongoing entity, If there was to be a single person named as the ‘driving force behind the establishment of the Marmion Marine Park’, it would have to be Barry Carbon, who, through his political astuteness in 1985, kick-started the establishment of the marine park in 1987, and then assured its implementation by gaining additional resources for its ongoing management. However, Barry Carbon would be quick to point out that the ‘driving forces in the establishment of the Marmion Marine Park’ also included about 25 various environment department staff who progressed the proposed marine park from its conception in 1976 to its delivery in 1987, thousands of members of the public who submitted their written opinions for consideration, many thousands more members of the WA public who engaged in dialogue with the DoE’s field consultations staff, the WA EPA which considered voluminous reports and opinions and then recommended to the Minister for the Environment that the marine park should proceed with conditions applied, and the numerous external university and commercial consultants who also contributed their expertise during those eleven years.

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Frigatebirds Under Threat Rowan Mott Research Assistant | Monash University If you are a seabird breeding off the north-west coast of Australia, there is a high likelihood that your nest is on one of the islands at Ashmore Reef. Sixteen species of seabirds totalling upwards of 100,000 individuals breed there. This richness and abundance makes Ashmore Reef one of the most important seabird sites anywhere in Australia. The numbers are even more impressive when you consider that all of these birds and their nests must cram onto Ashmore’s mere 55 ha of land. The seabirds of Ashmore Reef benefit from the Reef ’s isolation. At 325 km from the Kimberley coastline, few Australians ever visit Ashmore. The most frequent visitors to the Reef are traditional fishers from Indonesia. In past decades, harvest of seabirds and eggs by these fishers constituted a major threat to the seabird populations of Ashmore Reef. However, this pressure has been lifted by increased management and enforcement. An un-arguable benefit of Australia’s contentious stance on border protection has been the near-permanent presence of Australian Customs vessels at the Reef with Customs personnel responsible for policing the illegal take of seabirds. This increased protection has seen seabird numbers soar. So at a glance, the future for the seabirds of Ashmore Reef appears rosy. However, research during my PhD uncovered a previously un-recognised threat facing Ashmore’s

frigatebirds. Perhaps driven by competition for resources from the huge number of other seabirds present, frigatebirds leave Ashmore when they finish breeding and head north. Their post-breeding dispersal takes them to islands in the South China, Flores, and Banda Seas where they make short foraging trips from their chosen small island roost sites. It is these foraging trips where concern lies because they seem to be exposing frigatebirds to alarming levels of the toxic environmental contaminant mercury. Mercury concentrations of some feather samples collected from adult frigatebirds exceeded the concentration known to cause kidney lesions in some birds, and the level recorded for one individual exceeded this recognised toxic threshold by 2.5 times. Seabirds are thought to have a higher tolerance to mercury than terrestrial birds, but what constitutes a toxic level of mercury to a frigatebird is unknown. It may be that the mercury concentrations observed here are not detrimental. However, they still indicate that frigatebirds are receiving high level environmental exposure to mercury and warrant concern. Furthermore, we collected feather samples from birds that appeared outwardly healthy and were actively breeding. This could mean that our results are an underestimate of the true mercury burden of the population if individuals with higher mercury concentration escaped sampling because mercury inhibited breeding or worse, was fatal. If we collected feather samples from birds while they were breeding at Ashmore Reef, how can we infer that Southeast Asia is where the cause for concern lies? Well, samples collected from adult frigatebirds had a much higher mercury concentration than those from frigatebird chicks. This suggested that fish and squid fed to chicks, which was caught in the waters of the eastern Indian Ocean and Timor Sea, contained low levels of mercury. Analysis of tissue from regurgitated remains of key prey groups supported this conclusion. Together, these findings suggest limited mercury exposure on the breeding grounds. Furthermore, even though female birds are able to eliminate some mercury into

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

FEATURE their eggs, adult female frigatebirds had a higher mercury concentration than their male counterparts. During the non-breeding period, adult female frigatebirds feed on prey from inshore locations more so than do male frigatebirds. By feeding closer to shore, they are more likely to forage closer to sites of anthropogenic mercury emissions. Thus, we found strong evidence for mercury exposure occurring predominantly while on their non-breeding grounds in South-east Asia.

retain its status as the jewel in the crown for seabirds in the region, there is clearly a need to improve mercury emission controls, regulation and enforcement in South-east Asia. With awareness of the issue growing in South-east Asia and globally, there is hope that change is just around the corner.

A major source of mercury entering coastal waters in South-east Asia is artisanal small-scale gold mining. There is a growing literature demonstrating mercury emitted from this industry is negatively affecting a diverse array of species in South-east Asia, including humans. The negative effects of mercury pollution may be felt strongest closest to the source of emission, but our research demonstrates that its influence extends across international borders to affect seabirds breeding in Australia. If Ashmore Reef is to

Twitter: @roamingmoth

More Info Email: rowan.mott@monash.edu Website: www.rowanmott.com Article: Mott et al. (2017) Post-breeding dispersal of frigatebirds increases their exposure to mercury. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 119(1): 204-210.

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

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Fish-borne sensors reveal responses to climate change Sarah Marley AMSA Communications Officer Innovative research using fish-borne sensors has revealed how farmed Atlantic salmon are likely to respond to climate change. With increasing global temperatures, aquaculture cages will experience warmer temperatures and falling oxygen levels. A team of researchers from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) investigated the issue within Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour. “Atlantic salmon, both farmed and wild-caught, are a globally important commercial species,” said study lead Dr Kilian Stehfest, a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Tasmania. “It is crucial that we determine how they will respond to extremes of dissolved oxygen and ocean temperatures as the climate warms.” To this end, Dr Stehfest and his team used tags to help investigate fish responses to environmental changes. “While other studies have been done in laboratories or used equipment that shows how caged salmon behave as a group, our research is novel in that we used new acoustic telemetry tags to measure oxygen levels and temperature in real time in the immediate environment of the fish in on-farm conditions.”

© Photo | Huon Aquaculture The results revealed that during the hottest summer on record, the farmed salmon tended to concentrate in the middle depths to avoid low levels of oxygen at the bottom of their cages and warm surface waters at the top. “This behaviour peaked during the summer months as dissolved oxygen levels fell near the bottom and surface temperatures rose, leading to considerable contraction in the vertical habitat available to the fish,” said Dr Stehfest. At the height of summer, this meant that only around two metres of the 17-meter deep cage was available for fish to use, potentially causing overcrowding. “However, despite their avoidance behaviour, the fish still spent a large amount of time in waters with dissolved oxygen levels that would be deemed sub-optimal based on studies from other stocks, suggesting that the tolerance to such conditions of the Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon population might be higher than that reported for other stocks,” said Dr Stehfest. This could suggest substantial variation in temperature and hypoxia tolerance among families of Atlantic salmon, which could potentially allow for adaptation as a response to global warming. “These results highlight that local environmental conditions and the tolerance of fish to them need to be considered when determining the stocking densities at a given aquaculture site,” said Dr Stehfest. In the meantime, Dr Stehfest is hopeful that this research can have a wide reach. “This is the first time sensors have been used in this way, paving the way for similar uses in other species and situations to track how individual fish respond to different environmental conditions.” This project was funded by Sense-T, a partnership between the University of Tasmania, CSIRO and the Tasmanian Government, and also funded by the Australian Government. The IMAS research team also thank Huon Aquaculture, the company whose cages in Macquarie Harbour were used during the study, for their assistance.

More Info Email: Kilian.Stehfest@utas.edu.au

Article: Stehfest et al. (2017) Response of Atlantic salmon salmo salar to temperature and dissolved oxygen extremes established using animal-borne environmental sensors. Scientific Reports, 7, 4545. SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

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Code-Breaker: Infiltrating COTS Comms Sarah Marley AMSA Communications Officer Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS; Acanthaster planci) are notorious predators of reef-building corals, outbreaks of which have devastated hard coral communities. However, now scientists have decoded the genetic basis of chemical signals released by COTS, revealing how they communicate to form aggregations and flee from predators. This discovery may lead to biocontrol measures to enable their mass attraction and removal from coral reef systems. COTS is native to coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. In healthy reef systems, this species tends to feed on the fastest-growing corals, allowing slower-growing corals to form colonies and thus supporting coral diversity. However, COTS are extremely fecund mass spawners, with large females capable of producing up to 65 million eggs over the October to February spawning season. This fecundity predisposes them to population outbreaks, which can result in pronounced loss of live coral cover and associated biodiversity. As a result of these negative impacts on reef health, various strategies are being developed to monitor and counter-act the spread of COTS. To aid this research, scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), University of Queensland, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, and the University of the Sunshine Coast worked together to sequence COTS genomes. Their results were recently published in Nature. “This is a great example of excellence in science being achieved by pooling national

and international expertise in genomics, proteomics and behavioural ecology,” said lead author Dr Mike Hall (AIMS). Genomic DNA was extracted from two individuals collected over 5,000 km apart. One was collected from Rudder Reef on the northern Great Barrier Reef in Australia, whilst the second was collected from Okinawa in Japan. Despite this distance, both starfish secreted identical chemicals. “The chemicals, which are excreted from the external tissues including the spines, body wall, and mouth, make the normally sedentary starfish become highly active,” said study co-author Dr Scott Cummins, Associate Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast. “They are regulated by ‘exoproteomes’ linked to specific behavioural responses, which could be synthesised in the laboratory and used on reefs affected by COTS outbreaks to influence starfish behaviour. We also found that different proteins were released by COTS that were alarmed by the presence of their main predator, the giant triton. These may provide the key to developing new dispersal control technologies.” Dr Hall is also optimistic regarding the applicability of these findings. “While local control measures have achieved some success, species-specific chemical attractants that underpin spawning aggregations have substantial potential to act as biocontrol agents on a regional scale,” he says. Additionally, the fact that both starfish produced the same chemicals despite being collected 5,000 km apart, further broadens the applicability of these findings across the Indo-Pacific region. These advances in genome sequencing are allowing scientists to examine the importance of chemical communication within coral reefs. “This research shows that we can finally investigate the puzzle of how coral reef ecosystems operate,” he said. “The way in which all the organisms communicate either with each other or to other species, is one of the greatest gaps in knowledge in understanding such complex systems.”

More Info Email: m.hall@aims.gov.au Article: Hall et al. (2017) The crown-of-thorns starfish genome as a guide for biocontrol of this coral reef pest. Nature, 544(7649): 231-234.

Dr Mike Hall (AIMS; left) and Dr Utpal Bose (USC, now CSIRO; right) during investigations into the behaviour of crown-of-thorns starfish in response to chemical cues. (Photo: AIMS) SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

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AMSA Bulletin Milestone: 200 Issues To celebrate this landmark, we caught up with some of the past Bulletin Editors to find out where they are now and how their involvement with AMSA contributed to their marine science careers. 1995 – 1997: Dr Jonathan Havenhand AMSA was a long time ago, but a very rewarding and fun time. I was AMSA Bulletin Editor at a relatively junior stage in my career, shortly after I arrived at Flinders University in 1992. I was first introduced to AMSA by my friend and colleague Alan Butler, who was then President of AMSA. Within a few years had been elected to AMSA Council, and made regular contributions to the Bulletin, which was then under the expert Editorial Guidance of Ian Tibbets. After Ian left the post, I took over [if I remember correctly] for a short time until I was elected AMSA Secretary. Being a Council member, and then Bulletin Editor, kept me in touch with developments in marine sciences in Australia, not only in terms of policy and facilities, but also courses, fellow researchers and students. Those were exciting and full years, during which my AMSA contacts helped enormously in developing the Marine Biology and Aquaculture programs at Flinders, and collaborations with researchers in Melbourne and Sydney that are still active today. Since leaving Australia in 2002, I have been working at Gothenburg University in Sweden. I stay in touch with many of the colleagues and friends I made while I was active in AMSA, and look back fondly on my time in Australia. I’ll be back – on sabbatical in Hobart – soon, so hopefully I’ll also catch up with some of you again.

1997 – 2004: Professor Emma Johnston I was a PhD student when I began as Editor. I enjoyed the position because I got to learn about the breadth of marine science beyond my own research area. I also got to go to Science Meets Parliament as an AMSA ECR representative where I learnt a great deal about science advocacy, policy and communications. The position of editor benefited me in many ways, in particular by enabling me to establish good networks within the professional science community in Australia. I am now Dean of Science at UNSW Sydney and President-Elect of Science and Technology Australia.

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2004 – 2005: Dr Megan Huggett During my time as Editor I was a PhD student in Professor Peter Steinberg’s lab at the University of New South Wales. I became involved in AMSA because Peter and his students were strong supporters of the annual conference, and as many of us as possible would try to go to the conference each year. I was keen to obtain essential skills during my PhD, and organised a statistics workshop for postgraduate students in the NSW State Branch in 2003. I then ran a writing workshop with Dr Vivienne Mawson, the former scientific editor at CSIRO Marine Research, in Brisbane on the day before the 2003 annual conference. My involvement in these activities prompted Dr Emma Johnston, the previous editor, to recommend me for the position of Editor. These activities were crucial for me. I gained confidence and organisational skills along with the statistics and writing skills gained at the workshops. Above all, I had the opportunity to attend AMSA Federal Council meetings despite my junior position as a graduate student. This meant that my network expanded to include prominent marine scientists across Australia. I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research at Edith Cowan University in Perth, and I am excited to be starting a new position as Lecturer in Marine Science at the University of Newcastle in early 2018.

2009 – 2012: Dr Claire Smallwood I joined the AMSA Council and took on the role of AMSA Bulletin Editor just after completing my PhD at Murdoch University (to fill up my newly rediscovered free time?). At this time I was employed on various research projects at Murdoch University and the Department of Fisheries in Western Australia. I was initially concerned about how I was going to fit this role in amongst these other projects but, after a steep learning curve in the first few months, I really enjoyed producing each issue. Sitting on the AMSA Council and attending conferences provided many fantastic opportunities to see first-hand how the Association influences marine science in Australia as well as allowing me to meet other members and provide a useful source of articles for publication! I will soon be returning to my position as Research Scientist at the Department of Fisheries in Western Australia after being on maternity leave. The AMSA Bulletin and other media has been a useful way of keeping informed of marine science matters while I have been away from my desk.

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2012 – 2016: Dr Luke Hedge I’d always done a lot of science communication, and I host a radio show in Sydney where I talk science for 1/2 an hour every week; but writing was something different altogether. It’s a lot of work! Over the course of my time as editor I decided that the old way of delivering the bulletin, a PDF in your inbox 4 times a year was slightly outdated. So I focussed on changing the format, and converting it into a more modern online magazine style. I have two big achievements that I take pride in: I was the editor of the historic 50 Year Jubilee edition, where we spent a lot of time investigating the history of AMSA, digging into the records and presenting old stories first published in the 60’s and 70’s. I remember flying down to Hobart to sift through 5 boxes of old AMSA documents, including the original constitution and record books from the first AMSA meeting! The second achievement was using numbers and analytics to actually quantify our engagement with the bulletin. Now we know which stories are popular, what you want read, and how you want to read it. By introducing some scientific rigor into the process, we can now measure how well AMSA is doing, and where we need to improve. After my Editor role, I remained with the AMSA national council, and now work as the Vice President. Being editor for many years allowed me to get a sense of how AMSA works and, more importantly, how we can improve. So I hope to bring that experience with me as we try and build on our 50 year history. Where am I now? Well, I took love of numbers and technology out of academia and into the world software. I currently apply my data skills as a Senior Data Scientist at Atlassian, where we work to release the potential in every team! Being involved in AMSA is truly a highlight and I encourage everyone to get involved with your local branch, or at the national level. It will teach you to manage, to be creative, and to lead. But, more importantly, it’s really fun!

2016 – ???: Sarah Marley I have been a member of AMSA since 2013, when I started my PhD at Curtin University and joined the local WA Branch as a student representative. I then took over the role of Bulletin Editor in the final year of my PhD. Whilst this might seem like madness, it was actually a great creative release – I thoroughly enjoy writing articles and designing the Bulletin layout! There are so many amazing Australian science stories out there, waiting to be told! Which gives me a great opportunity to speak to researchers across the country, either to write about their work or encourage them to contribute Bulletin articles. As Bulletin Editor (or to give it the official title, ‘AMSA Communications Officer’), I am also involved in Council activities as well as continuing my involvement with the WA Branch as Vice-Chair. This keeps me pretty busy, but as an early career researcher it also provides a lot of valuable experience, networks and information. When I first took the helm of Bulletin Editor, I was told that “all the previous Editors have gone on to great things” – something that definitely seems to be true looking at my predecessors! If the Bulletin is something you would like to be more involved in, be sure to get in touch at editor@amsa.asn.au

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Reports Science Meets Parliament Olaf Meynecke AMSA 2017 SMP Representative I had the great opportunity to attend the 18th Science Meets Parliament (SMP) meeting in Canberra in March 2017 representing AMSA for marine science in Australia. Over the years I heard many good stories about this initiative and I was excited to finally having the chance to participate. First things first, while I expected the usual cold Canberra in autumn it was the opposite. Coming from warm Queensland this would have been a nice surprise but not so when all dressed up in a suit instead of the usual Queensland shorts and shirts. SMP also brought some very unexpected moments. I found myself in the backseat of a car chauffeured to the National Press Club while holding a box of maggots, explaining the birth of a whale to an MP and being told by one of my Uber drivers how my research using drones and whales actually works. The meeting started with an introduction by Kylie Walker, CEO STA. Alan Finkel, Australian Chief Scientist, gave an inspiring address to promote and support science. He asked: who can really save us? And spoke about the bizarre strategies that have been developed to escape a possible apocalypse such as hibernation chambers, a new earth on Mars and bunkers. Alan argues that these escape routes will not work. The only way is to combine our resources and knowledge. We do not need bunkers – but beakers! He encouraged all scientists to be active channels of information to the public and to engage in the process. The speech was followed by a very interesting panel discussion by Ashley Hall from the ABC, Alice Workman from Buzzfeed and Susannah Elliot from the Australian Science Media Centre. Ideas were presented on how to make science news more interesting, such as provision of strong headlines. Many useful tips for science communication were outlined. The panellist suggested to build up trust with journalists and contact them directly, to access science news channels such as the Conservation and Science Alert, and make use of ever-repeating topics in the news to update the public on new findings in science. The panel discussion was followed by an exercise on how to convince an MP, get an understanding for them and making useful points for the meeting with the politician. It was a fun activity, training ourselves to bring our main points across in less than 60 seconds. This also turned into a science speed-dating, as we were spoke to other participants of SMP and learned about their work. I had the great pleasure to hear about how forestry and platypus can successfully mix, how a software engineer works on the development of the world’s largest single dish telescope, and listen to a

conservationist designing effective wildlife corridors. The gala dinner at the new parliament house certainly was the highlight of the day – not only because the food was great and the wine plenty. It was also the first opportunity to meet some politicians. The PM was unable to attend but others made up for it. A strong and engaging address by Hon Bill Shorten, moderated by Bernie Hobbs, encouraged us to stand up for our profession and the work we do. An eye opening address that we as scientist are no longer in the position to stay in our labs and offices and hope for the best. The next day was all about meeting politicians and understanding how the process at Parliament House actually works (if it works). Along with two colleagues (a coral reef scientist and an agriculture researcher), my parliamentarian meeting was with the Hon. Meryl Swanson. This was a fantastic meeting that showed strong interest by Meryl Swanson in the work we do, and led to an hour-long

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

discussion. We then had some time to watch and listen to the parliamentary questions time. This did put a question into my head as to why yelling at each other is seen as political progress. In particular, when most of the questions asked were not actually answered. It was a sharp reminder for me that politics can learn a lot from us scientists. Even though we would enjoy yelling at each other at times, we try to make it right aiming for a greater good. In fact some of us work voluntarily and many unpaid overtime hours hidden away in offices, labs and on field trips. It was then liberating to listen to the Australian of the year, Prof Alan Mackay, speaking about how he was inspired to do science and always kept his curiosity that drove him to become what he is today. While having lunch at the national press club, the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, The Hon. Arthur Sinodinos, released a national science statement that contained no new significant strategies or funding announcements, but did affirm the federal governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strong support for science as a driver of the economy and social advancement.

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ÂŠ Photo | Imogen Webster

The journalist in the room asked some quite entertaining questions. Ranging from same-sex marriage (I swear it had nothing to do with the science statement) to plums keeping veggies fresh for longer. The answers by the Minister were very diplomatic to say the least. Finally, a panel session with Assistant Ministers The Hon. Craig Laundy, The Hon. Karen Andrews, The Hon. Richard Marles and Greens spokesman Adam Bandt MP rounded up the event. Overall the SMP was a fantastic opportunity for learning about political processes and the difficulties in translating science to policy. Given our times where the lack of support from populism driven elements in our society for science and facts is increasing (alternative facts are still lies), this meeting could have not been more timely.

SMP Meeting with MP Meryl Swanson. Left to Right: Olaf Meynecke, Olympia Yarger and Mike McWilliam.

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Potential Changes to Scientific Diving Rochelle Johnston AMSA Scientific Diving Representative As previously mentioned in the AMSA bulletin, the Australian Standards Diving Committee has a working group set up that is revising the AS2299.2 Scientific Diving. A proposed change that will affect scientific diving is the possible removal of Appendix A to be replaced with a reference to the training standard AS/NZS 2815.6. Another possibility is that the training standards AS2815.1 and AS2815.6 will be amalgamated. If you are not familiar with the training standard AS2815.6, it is important to note, that the competencies described within this standard are in line with those received with an ADAS Part 1 course. All scientific divers should read through the AS2299.2 standard and think about what changes they would like to see. How will the inclusions of reference to AS2815.6 affect you? Would you need to see any revisions to that document? To discuss, contact me at rochelle.johnston@unsw.edu.au.

ÂŠ Photo | Krystle Keller

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IMCC12: Marine Mammal Symposium Rachael Gray, Rebecca McIntosh and Olaf Meynecke University of Sydney | Phillip Island Nature Parks | Griffith University Marine Mammals were well represented at the 12th International Mammalogical Conference, with 16 speakers presenting a full-day symposium “Survival in a changing world”; with an inspiring plenary at the end of the day by Terrie Williams, a comparative wildlife physiologist from the University of Santa Cruz. The conference theme “Advances in mammalogy in a changing world” was embraced by over 750 participants from 50 counties; with the full-day symposium including 16 speakers from across Australia, the Antarctic and South America. We had some valuable cross-pollination with the terrestrial and aerial mammal community and certainly benefited from research methods and conclusions presented in other symposia. The symposium was organised and chaired by Rebecca McIntosh from Phillip Island Nature Parks, Rachael Gray from The University of Sydney and Olaf Meynecke from Humpbacks and Highrises and Griffith University. The symposium was opened by Simon Goldsworthy from the South Australian Research and Development Institute – Aquatic Sciences. Simon identified the endangered status of the Australian sea lion and the serious implications of continued population declines in this unique and endemic species. The situation is critical for this marine mammal and its future is uncertain. The remainder of the day saw presentations that highlighted varies aspects of the marine mammal research in Australia. The chairs extend their thanks to all of the presenters and participants for a very productive symposium.

for improving data capture and enhancing public education and conservation awareness. Terrie Williams plenary used large carnivores to examine “The great escape: How large, carnivorous mammals move out of harm’s way”. The physiology of escape was explored with amazing lab and field experiments demonstrating the energetic costs of having to freeze or flee when in danger. Showcased mammals included canids and felids; culminating in marine mammals that have more complex responses associated with diving including extended periods of apnoea (breath holding) while escaping from a threat. Wild Narwhals were instrumented with cardiac monitors and GPS devices when released from incidental capture in artisanal fishing nets. Narwhals exhibited a paradoxical escape reaction that included an increased dive response (deeper and for longer) and stroke frequency which rapidly depleted their oxygen stores and in one example, lead to brachycardia and death. Terrie highlighted the importance of considering increased human populations and disturbance impacts for population trajectories of wild animals. Overall, we had an outstanding day and it was great to be able to interact with each other. Both bats and echidnas were identified as having similarities to several of the marine mammal presentations and may lead to exciting comparisons in the future. For more information on the conference and the symposium, take a look at the following link: http://www.promaco.com.au/IMC12/

A clear take-home message from the day was that many researchers and organisations are working hard to advance the methods and techniques used for mitigating threats to marine mammals. We are trying to understand how the recent period of rapid environmental change has impacted marine mammals as sentinels and in their own right; and predict how they may adapt to the challenges to come. The scope of the presentations was diverse and stimulating. Subjects reported on included long-term population studies; how to detect rare or spatially disparate species such as blue whales; using marine mammals and food webs as models for environmental change; consequences of anthropogenic toxicity in the environment; the role of host-specific parasites such as hookworms on fur seals and sea lions; fascinating unique behaviours in isolated communities of dolphins and novel methods of estimating population change and demography in marine mammals - including using Citizen Science and unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs) © Photos | Chandra Salgado Kent SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

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State Branch News

AMSA has active branches in most States and Territories, holding a variety of education, professional or social events throughout the year. Keep an eye out for upcoming events at www.amsa.asn.au/branches ACT Pint of Science

The ACT Branch seems to have finally found its feet, supporting two very successful and engaging events in the broader community. In May we organised a marine science night at the annual Pint of Science in Canberra. The purpose of this program is to deliver interesting and relevant talks on the latest science in an accessible way – at the pub! AMSA hosted two dynamic speakers at a trendy little loft pub in O’Connor: Dr Will Howard from the Office of the Chief Scientist discussed the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch, using multiple marine science disciplines to show how humans are leaving a very lasting impact on our planet. Dr Ceridwen Fraser from ANU spoke on ocean pathways, weaving the impressive ways in which animals traverse the ocean with entertaining sprinklings of kelp and King Kong. The event attracted over 60 attendees, many of whom asked questions an interacted with the speakers afterwards.

the Beach to the Deep’: Dr Maria Byrne discussed bleaching corals and climate change; Dr Matt McArthur spoke about the beauty of small macrofauna; Nathan Janetzki presented on new thermal imaging technology and snails; Dr John Runcie spoke about photosynthesis at extreme depth and pressure; and Dr Ian Suthers gave a holistic view of the East Australian Current. In addition, outdoor excursions to a mudflat and rocky intertidal platform gave residents the chance to learn more about their local marine environments. The forum ended with an exciting live link to the RV Investigator where some of the onboard scientists enthusiastically shared their new discoveries from the abyss, including giant sea spiders, carnivorous sponges, and a likely new genus of soft coral. Participants were extremely grateful that this scientific outreach opportunity was offered to a regional area, and the scientists were, in turn, grateful for the enthusiasm and genuine curiosity of the participants!

In June, we sponsored the annual Marine Science Forum in Merimbula, NSW, hosted by the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre. Five enthusiastic and diverse speakers gave presentations on the theme ‘Marine Extremes: From

Towards the end of the year, the ACT Branch will run a science communication competition for early career researchers in the region. Please join our Facebook page to keep up-to-date on this and other future events!

ACT Marine Science Forum

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

REPORTS

AMSA Queensland has had an exciting year so far, and we have a few great events coming up in the next year. The year kicked off with our AGM in March. At our AGM we held our biennial elections and Dana Burfeind and Emily Saeck stayed on as president and vice president, respectively. Natalie Toon was elected secretary and Liz West was elected as treasurer. We also welcomed new members Megan Skelton and Emma Kennedy to the committee. The committee would also like to thank Beth Toki for her service as secretary and Simon Walker for his service as treasurer over the last 3.5 years. AMSA Queensland also hosted an ‘Alternative Careers in Science’ networking event. We had representatives from consulting, NGOs, government, etc and the students had ‘speed dating’ style discussions with each of the professionals. The event was highly successful and attended by over 40 students. Coming later this year, we have our traditional end of the year ‘Science in the Pub’ event. This event will be held on December 4th, 2017 from 6-9:30pm at the Ship Inn in South Bank. The guest speaker is Professor Peter Mumby from the University of Queensland. Please keep an eye out in the weekly AMSA news for more details in the coming months.

Finally, save the date! May 18-20th, 2018 we will be holding our biennial student conference at Moreton Bay Research Station on North Stradbroke Island. We are currently developing the program for the weekend, so more news to come. However, if you have ideas for workshops you would like to see offered, would like to be on the planning committee, or have sponsorship ideas *wink wink*, then please be in touch with Sheridan Rabbitt (sheridan.rabbitt@ uqconnect.edu.au).

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

REPORTS

AMSA 2018 The South Australian AMSA branch has been working hard this year to get the ball rolling for the AMSA 2018 conference in Adelaide. For more on this, refer to page 40.

SARDI Aquatic Sciences Student Symposium The annual SARDI Aquatic Sciences student symposium was held in July. AMSA-SA were proud sponsors of this event with $150 book vouchers as prizes, one for each of the best honours and PhD talks. The talks were all of high quality and we were delighted to hand over prizes to the following Flinders University students; Honours student Jessica Priess for her talk on “Relative pot efficiency within the South Australian Blue Crab Fishery”, and PhD student Rene Campbell for her talk on “When aliens invade! Overview of the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas) in South Australia”. Well done to both students on such a great achievement!

AMSA SA Upcoming Events The next event on our agenda is a networking event on 29th August where we will have the state based launch for the AMSA 2018 conference and the AMSA-SA AGM. On 6th September we will be co-hosting a writing workshop with SARDI Aquatic Sciences, exploring how to make scientific writing more engaging and accessible, without sacrificing accuracy and objectivity. Stay tuned for more information on those events and further announcements on AMSA 2018.

AMSA SA Secretary Kathryn Wiltshire with Symposium Honours Award winner Jessica Priess (top) and PhD Award winner Rene Campbell (bottom)

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REPORTS AMSA WA Chair Alicia Sutton with the Honours Prize Night winners

Honours Prize Night The Honours Prize night was well attended by AMSA members from universities, government and industry. Seven abstracts were submitted this year from Murdoch University and UWA. Five finalists were chosen, of which four presented their research to the marine science community. Congratulations to all the finalists! Thanks go to BMT Oceanica and CARDNO for sponsoring the event.

1st Place- Molly Moustaka The negative influence of suspended sediment on a fish assemblage in northwest Australia (UWA) 2nd Place- Cameron Desfosses The significance of macroalgae to the diets of juvenile fish and ecosystem function in a tropical coral reef lagoon (Murdoch) 3rd Place-Tim Walker Characteristics of the fish fauna of artificial reefs in Geographe Bay determined from video footage collected by recreational fishers (Murdoch) 4th Place- Amy Kirke Please Sir Can I Have Some More? The feeding habits of the urchin Centrostephanus tenuispinus on Hall Bank Reef, Fremantle, Western Australia (Murdoch)

Rottnest Student Workshop The 14th annual AMSA WA student workshop brought 35 marine science honours and postgraduate students together on Rottnest Island in June. The first day of the workshop was packed with presentations on a wide variety marine science topics from urchins to marine megafauna and from animal behaviour to climate change impacts. This year we successfully trailed two sessions of rapid talks to ensure all attendees would be able present their work. The 1st prize for the best talk went to Karissa Lear who presented on thermal performance regimes in

free-ranging sharks and sawfish. The 2nd prize was won by Sahira Bell who presented on heatwave and herbivore impacts on kelp communities and the 3rd prize by Frederico Vitelli who spoke up about the hybridising angelfish. We would like to thank Whale Watch Western Australia and Mandurah Cruises for their donation of prizes for the winners. After a full day of talks, we settled into our accommodation at the Kingstown Barracks and started preparing for a BBQ feast and a networking and socializing evening. We even managed to get a taste of freshly caught crayfish (big thank you to Cameron Desfosses!). The evening went by too fast in such a good, like-minded company! The second day, after morning coffee, we welcomed our four guest speakers: Julian Kalau from Chevron, Dr Brett Molony from Department of Fisheries, Dr Joshua Smith from Murdoch University and Dr Nicola Brown from Curtin University. All guest speakers shared their interesting journeys in the marine sciences field providing valuable advice while inspiring and motivating all of us listening. The workshop drew to a close in the afternoon with beautiful weather for the journey back to Perth.

AMSA WA Upcoming Events Marine Snapchat Evening (27th September) Freo Clean-Up (TBA, likely early Nov) Christmas Party (TBA)

Dr Joshua Smith and Dr Nicola Browne presented career talks at the Rottnest Student Workshop

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SCIENCE SHORTS

Science Shorts Every month, there are new marine discoveries happening all around Australia. Here, we give brief summaries of several recent marine science publications. If you would like to suggest a Science Short, please contact the Bulletin Editor (editor@amsa.asn.au)

Rock lobsters hardy to climate change New research investigating the environmental factors that influence Southern Rock Lobster settlement on reefs has found evidence that the fishery is showing broad resilience to climate change. The number of juvenile lobsters surviving in the open ocean and returning to shore has been monitored monthly for 17 years at a range of locations across the Australian fishery. The results were recently published in Fisheries Oceanography. This large dataset was analysed to see if changes over time are driven by environmental factors such as ocean current patterns, water temperature, swell, or wind patterns. Study co-author Professor Caleb Gardner, Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), said the research identified many complex environmental factors affecting the abundance of juvenile lobsters, but those that were important in one region were often completely different from those in another. “The reef settlement of the rock lobster is a complex process, where larval behaviour, biological factors and oceanographic processes interact over different scales,”

he said. “This complexity implies resilience of the fishery to climate change, as conditions that were bad for one region tended to be good for the fishery somewhere else.” However, Professor Gardner still advises caution. “While this research does not mean the fishery is completely off the hook for climate change, it does suggest that the fishery will continue into the future, although there may be variability from year to year, and from region to region,” he said. Such variability can only be understood through the use of broad-scale, long-term datasets. “If we had only studied one region of the fishery, we would probably have identified a factor that suggested vulnerability to climate change. But the conclusion was very different when we took a broader view with a huge dataset.” Professor Gardner said this study suggests that the best management strategy for Southern Rock Lobster needs to consider that productivity of the fishery is highly variable from year to year. This implies the need to take a conservative approach in controlling the size of the catch across the entire range, so that stocks can be maintained at healthy levels during the lean years.

Hinojosa, I.A., Gardner, C., Green, B.S., Jeffs, A., Leon, R. and Linnane, A. 2017. Differing environmental drivers of settlement across the range of southern rock lobster suggest resilience of the fishery to climate change. Fisheries Oceanography, 26(1): 49-64. DOI: 10.1111/fog.12185

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SCIENCE SHORTS

Antibioticresistant bacteria using turtle transport Turtles may be transporting super bugs around the Great Barrier Reef, according to Queensland researchers. New research has found that 9 out of 10 turtles sampled carried Enterobacteriales, a type of bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections in people. Lead author Md. Shamim Ahasan, James Cook University, explains why turtles were the focus of this study. “This study was primarily focused on an investigation into enteric Enterobacteriales and their antimicrobial resistance in endangered marine green turtles,” he says. “Basically, green turtles have several characteristics such as their long life span and high site fidelity to coastal foraging habitats, which make them a good bio-indicator for environmental health.” Samples were taken from 73 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on the Great Barrier Reef in 2015 and 2016. These revealed that approximately 90% of these turtles were carrying Enterobacteriales, which in itself is not a problem for the turtles. However, when the isolates were tested for resistance against 12 different antibiotics, almost 80% of the bacteria were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic, and more than a third were multidrug resistant. The problem of multidrug resistant bacteria is that it is difficult to treat infections with such strains and they can possibly transfer resistance genes to other bacteria that have potential to infect humans. “Our study indicated that the inshore areas of the Great Barrier Reef are under greatest threat as a result of different human-related activities and need to be better investigated,” said Mr Ahasan. “The presence of multi-drug resistant enteric bacteria with the potential to infect humans and other animals in the Great Barrier Reef is an important finding that indicates the possible marine microbial pollution in proximity to large urban development.”

Ahasan, M.S., Picard, J., Elliott, L., Kinobe, R., Owens, L. and Ariel, E., 2017. Evidence of antibiotic resistance in Enterobacteriales isolated from green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas on the Great Barrier Reef. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 120(1-2): 18-27. DOI: 10.1016/j. marpolbul.2017.04.046

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

SCIENCE SHORTS

Antarctic winds drive ice loss

Out of Sight… Seabed Microplastics

Australian scientists have discovered the reason behind mass ice loss in the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Coastal winds in the east cause fluctuations in the temperature of the ocean surrounding the continent and focus the warming in the west. Researchers say their results demonstrate the vulnerability of western Antarctica to a changing climate.

Scientific sampling along the south-east Australian coast has found high concentrations of microplastics in seafloor sediments, even along remote stretches of coastline. Scientists from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) found an average of more than three plastic filaments or particles in every millilitre of marine sediment tested at 42 locations around New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania.

Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Australian National University, and the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory found that the winds in East Antarctica can generate sea-level disturbances that propagate around the continent at almost 700 km per hour via Kelvin waves. When these waves encounter the steep underwater topography off the West Antarctic Peninsula, they push warmer water towards the large ice shelves along the shoreline. The warm Antarctic Circumpolar Current passes quite close to the continental shelf in this region, providing a source for this warm water. “It is this combination of available warm water offshore, and a transport of this warm water onto the shelf, that has seen rapid ice-shelf melt along the West Antarctic sector over the past several decades,” said lead researcher Dr Paul Spence, University of New South Wales. “We always knew warm water was finding its way into this area, but the precise mechanism has remained unclear. That remote winds on the opposite side of Antarctica can cause such a substantia subsurface warming is a worrying aspect of the circulation at the Antarctic margin.” These winds occur almost 6,000 km away. But changes in the Antarctic coastal winds, particularly along Eastern Antarctica, might themselves be related to climate change. As the Earth warms, the strong westerly winds associated with storms over the Southern Ocean contract towards the poles, in turn changing the winds near the Antarctic continent. When the researchers modelled the impacts of these altered wind regimes, the results suggested that they could drive warming of up to 1°C of the waters at the depth of floating ice shelves along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. This could have significant implications for Antarctica’s ice shelves and ice sheets, with previous research showing that even small increases in ocean temperatures can substantially increase melt rates around the Peninsula. “For lack of precise estimates of future changes, scientists have remained conservative in what this melting means for the globe, but recent estimates suggest Antarctica could contribute more than a metre to sea-level rise by 2100 and over 15 m by 2500 under current emissions trajectories,” Dr Spence said. “This would be disastrous for coastal regions and displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide.”

IMAS researcher Dr Scott Ling, who led the study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, said the discovery of microplastic pollution at every location showed how easily plastic is dispersed in the marine environment. “We were surprised by both the quantity of microplastics we found in marine sediments and their wide dispersal everywhere we looked along the South East Australian coast,” he said. The locations sampled included Sydney Harbour, Jervis Bay, Eden, Port Philip Bay, Port Adelaide, Derwent Estuary, and Tasmania’s East Coast. “Our study took samples of marine sediments from depths between five and 13 metres at sites close to the major population centres as well as remote sites,” said Dr Ling. “While we expected to find high levels of pollution close to the major capitals, we did not expect to find similar concentrations far from urban centres. In fact, the highest concentration of 12 microplastic filaments per ml of sediment was from Bicheno on Tasmania’s East Coast.” Dr Ling said microplastics are created both by the fragmentation of larger pieces of plastic in the ocean and being manufactured as micro-beads for use in cosmetics, or micro-fibres in clothing. Approximately 84% of the total plastic filaments found were between 0.038 and 0.250 mm. “Due to their small size, microplastics have the potential to be consumed by a very wide range of marine species and contaminate the entire food web,” said Dr Ling. “Further research is needed to establish at what rate marine fauna are digesting these materials, and the impact they are having on individuals, populations and communities.” What makes this research novel is its focus on marine litter accumulating on the seabed, rather in visible areas such as beaches. This study was among the first in Australia to examine this issue. Dr Ling said in other studies it is estimated that 70% of marine litter is expected to sink to the seafloor and enter marine sediments. “But while the huge volume of plastic debris accumulating in the world’s oceans and on beaches has received global attention, the amount of plastic accumulating on the seafloor is relatively unknown.”

Ling, S.D., Sinclair, M, Levi, C.J., Reeves, S.E. and Edgar, G.J., 2017. Ubiquity of microplastics in coastal seafloor sediments. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 121(1): 104-110. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.05.038

Spence, P, Holmes, R.M., Hogg, A.M., Griffies, S.M., Stewart, K.D. and England, M.H. 2017. Localized rapid warming of West Antarctic subsurface waters by remote winds. Nature Climate Change, 7: 595-603. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3335

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SCIENCE SHORTS

Damsels in distress Warming oceans could be changing how successful some fish are at hunting others. Researchers from James Cook University investigated predator-prey interactions in association with the independent and combined effects of elevated CO2 and temperature. Their results help to shed light on the responses of interacting species to climate change. Ocean acidification and warming are considered to be among the greatest threats facing marine organisms today. While each stressor in isolation has been studied extensively, there has been less focus on their combined effects. In this study, the authors looked at how efficient Dusky Dottybacks (Pseudochromis fuscus) were at catching Ward’s Damsels (Pomacentrus wardi) under different conditions. By exposing the coral reef fishes to elevated CO2 and temperature, they determined that high temperatures had a greater influence on the predator-prey interactions of the fish compared to elevated CO2. “We found that predator success increased following predator and prey exposure to elevated CO2and temperature. However, the highest predator induced mortality was found following exposure to high temperatures,” said lead author Dr Bridie Allan. “These results are important as this is the first study to address how the kinematics at the basis of predator-prey interactions may change in response to concurrent exposure to elevated CO2 and temperature and represents an important step to forecasting the responses of interacting species to climate change.”

Allan, B.J., Domenici, P., Watson, S.A., Munday, P.L. and McCormick, M.I., 2017, June. Warming has a greater effect than elevated CO2 on predator–prey interactions in coral reef fish. Proc. R. Soc. B, 284(1857): 20170784. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0784

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BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviews

Reviews of scientific books are provided by AMSA members, via the coordination of the AMSA Book Review Editor Dr Katherine Dafforn (k.dafforn@unsw.edu.au). If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, contact Katherine or keep an eye on the AMSA eNews for Book Review requests.

Big, bold and blue: lessons from Australia’s Marine Protected Areas Edited by James Fitzsimons, Geoff Wescott CSIRO Publishing ISBN: 9781486301942 http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7293/

This book represents an excellent reference for anyone interested in the administrative and regulatory development of marine protected areas in Australia. That sounds pretty dry, and parts of this book are (as most references books can be), but nonetheless this is an important book as never has such a detailed basis for each state and the Commonwealth marine protected area (MPA) system been compiled for easy comparison. It provides a comprehensive view of the current state of Australia’s MPAs and the variation across the country’s jurisdictions – which can be highly complex and confusing. It is, however, a book of four parts. The first two sections provide the national, international and historical background for MPAs and the distilled essence of the processes and decision making involved in the development of Australia’s federal and state MPAs (Chapters 1-13). The third section of the book outlines the fundamental approaches used to develop Australian MPAs covering: a review of the legislation on which MPAs are based: scientific basis for MPA planning; and the economic approaches that could be used to value biological diversity and conservation actions. This section (Chapters 14-17) provides a succinct primer for anyone interested in trying to understand the basis of MPA design and development. The fourth section provides a series of several intriguing essays critiquing the implementation and management of MPAs and the various controversies associated with them as a conservation management strategy. These essays cover topics such as: (i) indigenous roles in MPAs (Chapter 18) – indicating that most of the southern states appear to have little indigenous input into their MPA management; (ii) that the focus of attention on MPAs may have meant the ball has been dropped on ecosystem based spatial management 66

more widely across the country (Chapter 19); (iii) a quantitative social science review of the opinions of Australians on MPAs based on published studies over the last ten years (Chapter 20); (iv) a quantitative review of the perceived and quantified impacts of MPAs on recreational fishing (Chapter 21); (v) lessons from a commercial fishery in relation to MPA negotiations (Chapter 22); and (vi) a review of the development and outcomes of the campaign for a comprehensive federal system of MPAs. This fourth section is what I found to be the most interesting and could have been a book on its own. This would suggest that a complementary book extending and adding to these topics would be clearly possible and highly valuable. I only have a few small criticisms of the book. Firstly, that the overall synthesis in the final chapter is fairly brief. For the almost 400 pages preceding it, six pages of text to synthesise the book seemed a little too brief. That being said, it appeared to cover most of the major

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topics and brevity at this stage of the book may have been an indication of the effort required to bring it all together and to not be too heavy handed in this final chapter. Secondly, on a few occasions, some of the conclusions or lessons from some chapters do not seem to be based on the information provided in the chapters but appear out of the blue. Presumably they come from the authors’ knowledge or experiences which were not explained within the chapter (e.g. Chapter 8). Thirdly, I was slightly disappointed with the initial focus in the book (Chapter 2) on an international perspective. To me, this seemed to detract from Australia as a world leader in conservation approaches and is especially important as Australia has been setting the scene internationally in relation to MPAs consistently and for a long period of time (e.g. the commencement of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act in 1975; and being one of the first countries to develop and implement of a comprehensive system of state and federal MPA systems). This is possibly a little too critical – but as the book was subtitled Lessons from Australia’s Marine Protected Areas, I would have preferred a chapter towards the end of the book which put the Australian situation within a worldwide context. Placing the Australian MPA development and system in an international framework at the end of the book, I think, would have been more appropriate and highlighted the leadership of Australia in the development of MPAs and where Australia has led the trend rather than just followed the trend in relation to MPAs. The editors have assembled a diverse range of opinions in this book – including some critical of the implementation and operation of numerous aspects of MPAs and their management. It should be noted, however, that many specialists in various fields are far more critical of MPAs than those presented here. Nonetheless, a wide range of authors have contributed to this book from highly experienced protected area administrators, marine scientists, high profile conservationists, non-government organisational staff and importantly stakeholder groups that have been affected by MPAs. Hence, it provides a robust and extensive coverage and critique of MPA development in Australia. Overall, this is not a book that can be read easily from cover to cover; and is more of a book from which you might pick and choose sections as they relate to your interests or what you need to know about specific MPA systems. I have no doubt though, that this book is a fantastic reference for anyone interested in the nitty gritty of MPAs in Australia and provides an essential reference or primer for anyone working in marine protected areas – whether they are for or against this kind of management approach. Beyond a reference, it provides stimulating discussion and coverage of a range of topics critiquing and celebrating MPA systems across Australia.

Reviewed by Nathan Knott SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

BOOK REVIEWS

The Marine World: A Natural History of Ocean Life by Frances Dipper CSIRO Publishing ISBN: 9781486306497 http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7642/ This book is a very comprehensive, superbly illustrated text reference that provides accessible summaries and snapshots of information for all aspects of marine life. It is divided into three sections on the Physical Ocean, the Living Ocean and Marine Life. Each section is well organised into themes and specific topics. The Physical Ocean section provides an excellent summary of the controls exerted by key abiotic factors and how these are investigated as well as sections on oceanography, climate change and ocean topography, all this in just 38 pages. The Living Ocean has sections on marine environments and ecosystems with each theme presented in 1-2 pages. It is impressive how the author has provided such succinct summaries making it very easy to find the key information on ecosystems from the open ocean to the coasts and deep sea focusing on important processes and associated biota. Most of the book is devoted to Marine Life in an expansive treatment of biota from bacteria, algae, plants, through the animal invertebrate phyla and vertebrate groups including marine reptiles and birds. The author has managed to cover all living organism groups that have an affiliation with the sea in a tremendous effort to produce what must be the most complete coverage of marine life. The presentation of the facts and images is highly engaging and succinct, with many features that will assist and reinforce learning. The Mollusca for instance is covered in 20 very interesting pages. As so many university courses now have all of marine life and general marine science crammed into one semester, this book will serve as a very useful reference text to provide student with the information they need to understand phenomena and concepts and as a guide to direct future reading. It is also a very useful book for instructors in providing very useful facts, figures and images that can be used in teaching. I highly recommend this book and key fast reference for all aspects of life in our coasts and oceans.

Reviewed by Maria Byrne

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

BOOK REVIEWS

Amazing Animals of Australia’s National Parks by Gina Newton National Library of Australia ISBN: 9780642278883 http://publishing.nla.gov.au/book/amazinganimals-of-australias-national-parks.do This book provides a novel and highly engaging coverage showcasing 120 Australian iconic animals and their environment. It covers species in seven main habitats with a section on Coasts, Oceans and Islands. The examples of the marine national parks from coral reef to temperate reef habitats are presented before the book launches into the animals that call these places home. The photographs of the habitats and the animals are beautiful and aweinspiring, with wonderful close-ups of delightful creatures and magnificent places. For the marine environment the key species include marine mammals, reptiles and birds. Each animal has devoted to it a page of information covering what they are, where they live and what their lives are like. The page also contains ‘fast facts’ - vital statistics like size, longevity, number of young etc. There is also a traffic light denoting conservation status and a distribution map. Gina meticulously researched each animal and enlisted the assistance of experts and societies including of course, the Australian Marine Sciences Association. The design of this book is exceptional, making it attractive to look at and easy to read. It will definitely inspire interest in our natural world. Each page is formatted the same, so the same information in the same place for each animal. The book is aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, but the information will be useful for older student and adults will also enjoy this book. There are complementary teaching notes for a range of ages available on the National Library’s website, in addition to a table of further information on conservation status of the threatened species included in the book. It is a useful resource for assignments and for anyone interested in learning about Australia’s diverse and amazing wildlife. This book has been shortlisted for the 2017 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards (information category), and for the Wilderness Society’s 2017 Environment Award for Children’s Literature (information category).

Reviewed by Maria Byrne

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

MEETING MINUTES

MINUTE HIGHLIGHTS Australian Marine Sciences Association Inc AMSA Council Meeting 1st May 2017 Sydney, New South Wales 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES 2. AMSA BUSINESS Strategic Framework: Discussion regarding Strategic Framework, which has been developed through outstanding effort by Lynnath Beckley. Discussion of roles and tasks, particularly with relevance to managing web content. The meeting decided that the document is more appropriately referred to as a Governance Plan; however, we also need a Strategic Plan as well as an Operational Framework. Membership Report: Slight increase in numbers since the last report in Oct 2016. There are a total of 752 members if including grace, pending and active. Ratification of New Members: The new memberships were approved subject to follow up by Will Figueira. The meeting agreed that ‘employer’ must be listed and to use ‘unaffiliated’ for those without an employer or institution. This is now a compulsory field. Treasurer’s Report: The budget was reviewed and the following decisions made: retain website support; reduce Business Manager costs; remove printing costs for the Bulletin. The meeting ratified expenses up to 31 March 2017 and approved the report.

they are at risk of having their abstract removed. There will be a public forum, three workshops (Indigenous engagement, mangroves, and getting published), an open-air gala dinner, meeting with Branch Presidents and Secretaries, and AMSA AGM. Adelaide 2018: The Organising and Scientific Committees are in place, with biologists, oceanographers, geologists, international delegates and students represented. Canyons to Coast is the theme. Tender process was carried out to select Conference Organiser (5 tenders received, selected MCI). Conference venue will be the Convention Centre. Budget breaking even with 400 people, including sponsorship of $50k. The meeting discussed the registration fee, which will be increased from previous years. Perth 2019: Will Figueira to follow up with WA Branch. 4. COUNCIL ACTIVITIES President’s Report: Taken as read. Secretary’s Report: Taken as read.

Internal Communication and Archiving: The meeting discussed whether to adopt Confluence/Neptune. The usefulness of Confluence as an archive was discussed, including backups. The meeting agreed to try Confluence/Neptune and assess by next meeting. The meeting also discussed automated membership. Jubilee, Technical and Allen Awards: A total of 14 applications were received for the Allen Award, with the standard of applications being very high. The meeting agreed to award ‘Highly Commended’ to the top applications. The Allen Award winner will now be contacted, and unsuccessful applicants notified. Jubilee and Technical Awards are currently being considered. 3. CONFERENCES Darwin 2017: Over 320 abstracts have been received and on target for 350 registrations (100 registrants already). If people do not register by 19th May 2017, 70

SEPTEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN MARINE SCIENCES ASSOCIATION INC. www.amsa.asn.au

MEETING MINUTES National Marine Science Committee Report: Taken as read.

Social Media Report: AMSA now was 2,200 Facebook followers; 400 people looked at Ross Sea posts.

National Committee for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation: Discussion of NCEEC decadal plan for Evolutionary Biology.

Book Reports: Lots of reviews due and will have plenty for next Bulletin.

STA Report: Andrew Carroll represented AMSA at the STA meeting. Discussion of how STA can assist with increasing profile of marine science, with particular relevance to spatial planning. 5. AMSA COMMUNICATIONS Communication Strategy: Will Figueira to see where we are up to with this. Website update: Discussed developments with the website. The membership forms for students, professional and corporate members are all different to cater for the different information required for each category. We ned to remove option for hard copy Bulletin. For new members, nominator gets an email, ticks ‘yes’ to confirm, and membership is switched to active. This is automatic for credit card payment, but for direct debit the Business Manager has to switch to active when receipt of money confirmed. Student membership only for 1 year, supervisor has to confirm each year. The developer invoices for each change to website. Bulletin Editor Report: Next Bulletin will be number 200. Editor will contact past Editors to contribute. Deakin University Library would like to print PDFs for their students; this was agreed. The last AMSA Allen Award winner attended the International Marine Conservation Congress, which would like to cross-link to publish his conference report via a link to AMSA website; meeting agreed.

6. EXTERNAL MATTERS Sabine Dittman recommends that the council read the Australian National Science Statement issued in March 2017. In contrast, the ‘2030 Strategic Plan Issues Paper’ is all about business, nothing about funding or environment; feedback is requested by the end of May 2017 and important for AMSA to make a submission. 11. OTHER BUSINESS Digital-only Bulletin: Discussion of the draft email from President to all members to advise that we are going to a digital-only format for the Bulletin. Travel Expenses: Discussion of reimbursing Rochelle Johnston for travel costs to represent AMSA at the next SF017 (Occupational Diving) meeting. Budget required. 12. NEXT MEETING Council Meeting: 2nd July 2017, Darwin AGM: TBC, Darwin Meeting with Branch Office-Bearers: TBC, Darwin

AMSA’s mission is to advance marine sciences in Australia. The basic object of AMSA is to promote, develop and assist in the study of all branches of marine science in Australia and, by means of publications, meetings, symposia and such other methods as may be considered appropriate, to provide for the exchange of information and ideas between those concerned with marine science. Membership is open to scientists or corporate bodies engaged in marine research, and to students of marine science approved by the Council of the Association. AMSA aims to improve the public’s image of marine scientists and to forward their interest generally.

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