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December 2013  |  Newsletter of the Marine Biodiversity Hub
Season's greetings from the NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub

Year in review and Season's Greetings

This is the conclusion of the sixth year of the Marine Biodiversity Hub, which commenced research under the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities program in 2008, and was continued under the current National Environmental Research Program in 2011.

map of the Tasman Peninsula study area on the south east coast of Tasmania, Australia

Australia’s capacity for acoustics research is booming

Acoustics scientists are sharpening their focus on the sea floor, with new tools and techniques, a flurry of swath mapping, and a mission to frame international standards for consistency and ‘best practice’.

CDU’s Peter Kyne rescues juvenile largetooth sawfish from a waterhole near the Daly River.

Tagging sharks amid crocs in the Top End

In September 2012, as Top End floodplains were drying, NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub and Northern Hub scientist Peter Kyne received an alert that two largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) were stranded in a waterhole near the Daly River.

eep water shrimps are only found within a narrow band of depth on the continental margin, Australia.  Images:  Karen Gowlett-Holmes and G Millen

Diverse decapods defining the depths

Lebbeus cristigalli is a small, striped shrimp found across Australia’s north-west marine bioregion - the Commonwealth waters that stretch from Shark Bay in Western Australia to the Northern Territory border.

High resolution bathymetry image of shoal, Oceanic Shoals, WA.  Image:Geoscience Australia

Oceanic Shoals survey catalogues tropical northern shelf

A marine biodiversity survey in the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (Timor Sea) has added to the knowledge base of Australian tropical shelf habitats, and the data will be used to inform management of these poorly understood areas.