RLS Tropical Australia Expedition Part I (West Coast)

In mid May, following the annual RLS Rottnest Is survey weekend, a small team departed Perth heading north to start a monumental effort to fill in spatial gaps in the ever growing RLS Australian database.

The expedition is now half way through, with surveys already completed at places such as Port Gregory, South Passage (Shark Bay), Port Hedland and Cape Leveque, and the team currently driving between Broome and Cairns. The major legs of the journey, however, have involved larger groups of experienced RLS divers for concerted surveys of the Ningaloo Reef area and the Dampier Archipelago…

Ningaloo Marine Park

A team including Tim Alexander, Bill Barker, Paul Day, Andrew Green, Jen Hoskin, Don Love, Keith and Terina Saunders, Kevin Smith, Kate Tinson and Rick and Jemina Stuart-Smith got together from the 24th May until the 2nd June to survey a range of sites in the Ningaloo Reef and Muiron Islands area. The team was based at the Coral Bay Research Station and Cape Range National Park, with the generous help of Murdoch Uni and the Department of Environment and Conservation, and had two rubber duckies and the CBRS vessel on hand to ensure that a large number of sites could be covered.

As expected, the team encountered a relatively diverse fish fauna, with ~50 fish species typically being recorded per 50m transect, including numerous species of parrotfish and damselfish. For example, it was not uncommon to have 6 species of scarid present, and often in mixed schools, just to keep the team on their toes! Distinguishing between very similar scarids or tricky pomacentrids proved equally as challenging for the team as the lengthy entry of the data each afternoon! Whilst the team relished the challenge, it was clear that it takes a hardcore volunteer, with steely determination, to take on RLS surveys and then the difficult data entry associated with more diverse faunas of the tropics. The survey leg produced some valuable data, but was also valuable from the perspective of the exposure to species-rich situations and more of a solid basis for those wishing to participate in any future RLS tropical surveys.

Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith

Exmouth, WA

Dampier Archipelago

The next survey leg involved the transportation of all the dive gear, including compressor and tanks, along with camping gear and other essentials to Enderby Island in the Dampier Archipelago. This was made possible by the generous assistance of Rob Connell and the DEC crew at Karratha, who organised to drop us off and pick us up from Enderby, and had the local knowledge needed to be able to do this effectively and safely.

Graham and Sophie Edgar joined the crew in Karratha, after arriving early and stocking up on all the essentials at the local supermarket, with Bill and Barb’s assistance. A well fed team then took on the interesting marine life of the Dampier Archipelago at a range of reefs around Malus, West Lewis, Goodwyn and Enderby Islands. Often marginal visibility and strong winds didn’t stop the team surveying 14 sites and recording a range of interesting, some new, species of fish and invertebrate. At least two new undescribed species of Halichoeres wrasse and Apogon species were recorded, as were many others that have not been previously recorded in other RLS surveys, including a number of endemics to the stretch of coast such as Choerodon cauteroma, Plectorhinchus multivittatus and Chaetodontoplus personifer.

Enderby Island, WA

Halichoeres cf. orientalis

Another update will be available when the team finishes the eastern seaboard legs of the expedition, but for the time being, a massive thanks to all of the Department of Environment and Conservation staff that have assisted, including but not limited to Rob Connell, Cath Samson, Cara Maysmor, and our very own Kevin Smith, and also Pam Dickenson from Shark Bay, Mike Van Keulen and Frazer McGregor from Murdoch Uni and Allan Smith in Port Hedland.

Anampses lennardi

Enderby Island, WA