Australia

Remember those large table corals (tabular Acropora) at the Great Barrier Reef?

A new study had shown them to be “extraordinary ecosystem engineers”, with the ability to regenerate coral reef habitats at the iconic reef at a rate 14 times higher—more than 20 years faster—than any other coral type.

In essence, the research indicated that overall reef recovery would slow significantly if these corals declined or disappeared at the reef.

Last December, marine biologist Caitlin Lawson made her way to the Great Barrier Reef.

Like countless others, she was there for the annual spawning of the corals. However, she was armed, not with expensive photographic equipment, but small plastic containers rigged with tubing.

Her mission? To collect the gaseous chemicals released by the corals (as well as their algal and bacterial symbionts) before, during and after the spawning event.

Australia, 11 January 2021: Entries are now open for the Underwater Tour Awards 2021. We have added two new awards this year to include not just photographers, but also creatives and eco-citizens everywhere.

Guru Awards These awards feature five Categories, a publicly-voted People’s Choice prize, plus the ultimate prize for the top-scoring photographer across all the categories, the Grand Guru prize!

After hitting a low of 300 individuals 30 years, humpback whale numbers off Australia’s east coast are soaring. Researchers from Australia’s Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans (ORRCA) are hoping for an increase in whale migration numbers this year. Census results from the past 21 years indicate an annual 10-15 per cent increase in whale migration numbers.

Researchers in Australia have uncovered a massive “detached” coral reef off the Queensland coast, the first of its kind to be discovered in more than 120 years. The discovery was made about 80 kilometres east of Cape Grenville, approximately 150 kilometres south of the tip of the Cape York Peninsula.

Now housed in a new space on Level 4 of the exhibition center, AIDE has a new setup and ambience over the five-day event, including a dive education program with presentations and forums on scientific diving, ocean rescue, dive medicine and women in underwater photography. With over 60,000 divers and boaters visiting the boat show every year, exhibitors enjoy extensive exposure, with ample opportunities to interact with visitors, making sales and reaching new audiences.

Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) are bad news for coral reefs, so it is essential that they are detected and dealt with as soon as possible.

But detecting an outbreak in its early stages is not easy. What’s more, they sometimes hide under coral plates, while the younger ones can be as small as just a few millimetres.

To counter this, the researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) developed a new test to detect the presence of the starfish on coral reefs.