Transcript Nuyts to you too! - Marine Education Society of Australasia

Reef Watch
Community Education in Action
Dr Sue Murray-Jones
Reef Watch - Liaison Officer and
Technical Advisor
(Office for Coast and Marine, DEH)
PREMISE:
Volunteers can do good science!
- importance of temperate reefs
- introduce Reef Watch
- describe methodology
- limits and challenges
- rocky shores accessible
- well studied
- lots of books, kits, material
- lots of community action
Temperate reefs
- subtidal less accessible
- not as well studied
- fewer books, kits, material
- few community programs
BUT
- we know they are highly productive
- key role in coastal processes
- interest from divers
- VERY expensive for researchers to
work in subtidal
The Unique South
- very high biodiversity
- extremely high endemism e.g.
85% of fish
95% of molluscs
90% of echinoderms (estimates from Poore 1991)
30% of Chlorophyta (green algae)
75% of Rhodophyta (red algae)
57% of Phaeophyta (brown) (Womersley 1991)
- more species of algae than the GBR has
corals
Algal diversity
Region
length
#species
Southern Aust. 5,500
NE N.America 8,000
Pacific NWest 12,000
Japan
6,500
New Zealand
6,970
1,155
399
1,254
1,452
835
Why is this so?
- Current patterns
- tropical influences
- East Australian Current
- Leeuwin Current
- Antarctic influence
- Isolation
- Longest E-W temperate coastline
Reef Watch
- set up to monitor metro reefs
- methodology and training
developed
- got community involvement, funding
- raised awareness
- events such as Marathon Dive
- participate in Sea Week etc
- ID workshops using scientific experts
Surveys
- visual fish census
- quadrat counts
- line intercept transects (LIT)
- use of life form codes
Life Form Codes
Code
BRENC
BRFOLI
BRLEATH
Description
Brown encrusting algae
Brown foliaceous algae
Brown robust algae, large
flattened blades (much
broader than thick), not
membranous but leathery
BRBRANCH Brown robust algae with
highly branched habit
(blades not much broader
than thick)
TURF
Turfing algae (all colours)
GMEM
Green membranous algae
RCORAL
Red coralline algae
RMEM
Red membranous algae
Line Intercept Transects (LIT)
- 1996 Adelaide University Botany
Department - Reef Health Assessment
- Development of LIT
- use transect line, weighted ruler
- record along transect using life form codes
- simple
- reproducible
- directly comparable to U Adelaide/ EPA
survey data
LIT
Successful program
- >80 participants in marathon dives
- c. 300 divers have participated
- developed a solid data base
- interactive web site
- developing web engine to generate
reports
- has been copied by other states
- held up as a model in election policy
statements
Limits
- some data quality problems (addressing)
- resourcing
- commitment in winter!
- data is semi-quantitative
- need more spatial cover/replication
- need more temporal replication
Challenges
- funding (always)
- need to find a way to run w/o paid
project officer
- insurance!!!
- need to extend to less “interesting” areas
eg seagrass, degraded reefs, estuaries
- time
- involvement of trained scientists at all levels,
e.g. development, analysis, training, dives
- high quality training and ID workshops
- lots of information eg training manuals, kits
- lifeform codes
- progression of skills
- basic fish census, quadrats
- “graduate” to LIT
- liasion with Government, SARDI, Unis
Where to now?
- expansion of programs
- Feral and in Peril
- “adopt a reef” program …. temporal
repetition and ownership
- devolving to local areas eg grants from
Marion, Onka councils
- expand to regions
- add an intertidal component
- Seagrass Watch
- Blue Groper survey
- fish biology workshop
Acknowledgements
- Coastcare & now Fishcare
- active steering Committee, past,
present and future
- Jon Emmett, Sheralee Cox, Chris Ball
- David Turner and Anthony Cheshire
- SARDI
- OCM