Australia

Kyra Hay sorting Coral samples

Deep corals discovered on Great Barrier Reef

The coral Leptoseris is living 410 feet (125 meters) below the ocean's surface, a discovery that expedition leader Pim Bongaerts of the University of Queensland called "mind-blowing."

Bongaerts and his colleagues received funding from insurer the Catlin Group Limited to explore the Great Barrier Reef as part of an effort to understand how climate change is altering the oceans.

Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Tagging and tracking showed that white sharks travel thousands of kilometres.

Australia has two distinct white shark populations

Scientists identified two distinct populations of white shark at the east and west of Bass Strait in Australian waters, prompting researchers to suggest the huge fish may need a regional conservation plan.

The study examined tissue samples from 97 sharks collected around Australia since 1989 which were caught in beach safety programs, as fishery bycatch and during Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) field research. Its findings are broadly consistent with satellite and acoustic tracking research led by CSIRO’s Barry Bruce.

Japanese Tuna Scandal Deepens

In what Australian officials called an outrageous fraud, Japanese fishers probably used a series of disguises for the overcatch and international investigations have found.

The fishers described southern bluefin tuna as a different species and evaded any inspection on shore, underreported the amount of the fish they caught, and imported it as different tuna either transhipped at sea from foreign vessels or in containers. In a review that the Japanese government has vetoed from public release, investigators found the fraud extended to consumer markets.

Ningaloo Coast
Ningaloo Coast

Australia’s Ningaloo Coast Awarded World Heritage Status

After a seven-year campaign by Australian Federal and State governments, Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef has been awarded World Heritage status at UNESCO’s June meeting in Paris. Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke heralds the inscription as a major achievement. “The Ningaloo coast’s striking land and seascape tells a dramatic story about the formation of oceans, movement of continents and changes in our climate,” he said.

The endangered Spotted Handfish are found on sandy sediments at the bottom of Tasmania's Derwent estuary and adjoining bays.

Nine new species for disappearing handfish family

The review of the handfishes brings the family to 14 known species – six found only in Tasmania and one known from only one specimen possibly collected in Tasmania by early European explorers, yet not recorded since. It also deepens concerns about the declining populations of some handfishes.

Ana the Green Turtle swims from Indonesia to Australia

Her journey across the Indian Ocean from a nesting beach in East Java to Kimberley in Western Australia demonstrates the strong biological ties between Indonesia and the reefs on the west Australian coast.

“Ana’s journey has revealed an ‘oceanic superhighway’ that helps us better understand how marine turtles navigate around the world’s oceans as well as highlighting the strong ecological and evolutionary connections between Indonesia and Australia’s Kimberley-Pilbara coast,” said Gilly Llewellyn, WWF Ocean’s Program Leader.

Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decomm
Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decomm

HMAS Canberra scuttled

Commercial clearance divers were expected to survey the wreck once it had settled later on Sunday to ensure all the charges had detonated.

Moorings will then be installed by Parks Victoria before the government opens the site for divers, in about a month's time.

Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decommissioned in 2005.

It served in the Middle East following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1992 and helped evacuate Australians from Jakarta in 1998 during the student riots that deposed Indonesian president Suharto.