Lucieer, Vanessa

A potato rockcod (Epinephelus tukula) cruises among gorgonian and sponge gardens at Ningaloo.

Marine Biodiversity Hub researchers spent a week in August exploring a hidden city.

They sent cameras down to deep parts of Ningaloo Reef, revealing gardens of sponges and gorgonian sea fans populated by red emperor, gold band snapper, ornate rock lobster, comet grouper and potato rockcod.

These are the treasures of Ningaloo Marine Park (Commonwealth waters). This offshore park,...

Preparing to deploy the stereo BRUVS in the Caribbean Sea, near the UNESCO-listed volcanic spires of Gros Piton and Petit Piton. Image: Cefas Dr Monk onboard the survey vessel, enjoying the Caribbean sunshine. Image: Cefas Early this year, Marine Biodiversity Hub researcher Jacquomo Monk visited the Caribbean island of St Lucia to guide researchers and fisheries officers in the use of baited remote underwater stereo video (stereo BRUV).

Dr Monk’s visit was facilitated by the United...

Deep rocky reefs across the continental shelf are subject to commercial and recreational fishing, so it's important to better understand the abundance and diversity of their resident fishes. Eastern Rock Lobster, Jasus verreauxi, Pink Snapper Chrysophrys auratus, Australian Mado, Atypichthys strigatus, and Ocean Leatherjackets, Nelusetta ayraud, were regularly encountered in this study. A study of fish communities on mesophotic reefs has found these habitats deserve greater consideration in...

Cameras at the ready. Marine Biodiversity Hub director Nic Bax, and voyage chief scientist Alan Williams and deep-tow camera system engineer and 'pilot' Jeff Cordell from CSIRO prepare for the voyage. Image: CSIRO

MEDIA RELEASE, 23 November 2018

Scientists and Australian Marine Park managers departed from Hobart today to survey deep coral reefs and a rare aggregation of spawning eels at underwater mountains or ‘...

Hub scientists Scott Nichol and Neville Barrett are leading a three-part survey of the Beagle Marine Park. Their June mapping survey on the TV Bluefin will be followed up in July and August with biologial sampling using baited remote underwater video, towed video and an autonomous underwater vehicle collecting seabed imagery. Scientists from Marine Biodiversity Hub partner agencies the University of Tasmania Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and Geoscience Australia (GA) are...

The five super canyons identified in this study are located off the Great Barrier Reef and the New South Wales coast and have particularly high habitat potential for both pelagic (open ocean) and seabed animals. Image: Geoscience Australia Five submarine ‘super canyons’ have been identified off eastern Australia in a study that matched canyon environments with the needs of marine life.

Submarine canyons are steep-sided valleys cut into the sea floor that trap nutrients and attract a...

Part of a large group of Port Jackson sharks pictured by the Sirius autonomous underwater vehicle during a pilot survey of deep rocky reefs in Beagle Commonwealth Marine Reserve conducted from the RV Bluefin. Image: IMAS/IMOS An unusually large group of Port Jackson sharks was a surprise highlight for scientists surveying life in the Beagle Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) earlier this year.

Hundreds of the distinctive, dark-striped sharks were massed on the sandy seafloor among low...

Young scientists Lainey James and Margot Delaporte have completed their first trip aboard the Australian Maritime College Research Vessel Bluefin.

They spent a week surveying seabed life off eastern Tasmania with a team from the UTAS Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the University of Sydney Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

The team revisited deep reef systems in the Freycinet Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR), as well as inshore reefs near Wineglass Bay and...

Seafloor mapping comes alive through art this month during ‘Oceans of the Unknown’, an exhibition at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies on Hobart’s waterfront.

Part of National Science Week, the exhibition is funded by a University of Tasmania Cross Disciplinary Incentive Grant, with support from the Marine Biodiversity Hub. It features works by artists Jan Hogan and Annalise Rees from the Tasmanian College of the Arts, and Hub spatial analyst Vanessa Lucieer whose work...

Australia’s Environment Minister, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, joined University of Tasmania scientists and volunteer divers on a Reef Life Survey at Tinderbox Marine Reserve south of Hobart today.

After the dive, the Minister joined UTAS Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Rathjen, at Hobart’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies to launch the Marine Biodiversity Hub, one of six hubs funded under the National Environmental Science Programme (NESP).

The NESP is a six-...

Wednesday 10 December 2014

The Australian Government has announced the successful organisations to lead research hubs under the $142.5 million National Environmental Science Programme (NESP). The programme will assist decision-makers to understand, manage and conserve Australia's environment by funding world-class biodiversity and climate science. This research will ensure decisions about managing Australia's biodiversity and environmental resources are made on the best available...