The NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub has set up a blog so you can follow the RV Solander as it undertakes a 21 day survey of biodiversity in open waters off north-western Australia.  You'll see blogs from the scientists on board including photos and video footage of sharks, fish and diverse communities that inhabit pelagic and benthic environments. The RV Solander, with 11 scientists on board, left Broome on 12 September 2012 and will return on 6 October.

The survey is being undertaken by the Marine Biodiversity Hub to support the Australian Government’s marine bioregional plans and is supported through funding from the National Environmental Research Program (NERP).

The information gathered in this survey will be used to fill gaps in biodiversity knowledge and patterns of community assembly, associated physical drivers of marine biodiversity and provide a regional context to these patterns and processes.

This survey of offshore waters in the north-west, including the proposed Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR), is a research collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Geoscience Australia (GA), University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MGNT). The survey forms the main activity for Theme 4 of the NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub – Regional Biodiversity Discovery to Support Marine Bioregional Plans. Data from this survey will be used to support the research goals of the other three themes in the Marine Biodiversity Hub and to support the work programs of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC).

Visit the RV Solander blog here http://www.nerpmarine.edu.au/rv-solander-blog or see the quick link on our home page.

Related information
RV Solander Blog
Media release
Theme 4 – Regional biodiversity discovery to support marine bioregional plans

Contact:
Prof Nic Bax, University of Tasmania

Images: 

1. Three survey grids of the voyage.
2. An Australian Ocean Blacktip shark, coming for a closer look at the Stereo Imagery System for Shark and Tuna Analysis (SISSTA)
3. Stereo Imagery System for Shark and Tuna Analysis (SISSTA)
4. Catch on sorting table from towed sled - Belinda Glasby, NT Museum; and RV Solander crew member Mike Walker
5. Targeted towed camera survey reveals habitat.  In this example, the shallower shoal plateau area in Grid 1 is seen to support mushroom corals, various plants and coarse calcareous rubble