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September 2012  |  Newsletter of the Marine Biodiversity Hub
Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response DPSIR Framework

Hub provides regional spoke for UN ocean review

The NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub will participate in the first global assessment of the state of the marine environment. The first regional workshop for the South Pacific is planned for early 2013.

Biota on deep shelf reefs Flinders CMR - massive sponge and encrusting sponges

Survey design set for sea-test in Flinders reserve

A team of NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub researchers from the University of Tasmania, Geoscience Australia and CSIRO has been testing new monitoring approaches in phase one of the Flinders Marine Reserve field survey.

Local knowledge aids global plan to save sawfishes

NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub researchers are contributing to a global conservation strategy for sawfishes: perhaps the world’s most threatened fish family, with all seven species listed on the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered.

Map of locations of canyons, Australian continental margin.  Image:  Heat and Harris, Geoscience Australia

Taking a deeper look at submarine canyons

Submarine canyons, often rich and productive, have been identified in the Australian Government’s marine bioregional plans as areas of relatively high productivity and marine life aggregation. But few canyons around Australia have had their bathymetry mapped in detail or been biologically sampled.

Locations of brittle star samples destined to contribute to the global mapping project. Blue dots: continental shelves; red dots: bathyl; yellow dots: abyssal.  Image: Tim O'Hara, Museum Victoria

Stars and lobsters drive global guide to seabed fauna

Brittle stars and squat lobsters may sound like tough yoga, but these ubiquitous seabed creatures are the basis of a global mapping initiative supported by the Census of Marine Life (CoML).