The 11th consecutive annual Rottnest Island Reef Life Survey long weekend was held on Thursday 24th to Tuesday 29th May and saw a team of 12 divers complete 36 surveys across 13 sites, despite a number of undiveable days with 100km/h winds and swells up to 6m.
As part of a broader investigation into how marine parks are faring across the tropics, RLS volunteers Mez Larkin, Andrew Green and Graham Edgar recently headed to the ‘epicentre’ of coral reef diversity, the Raja Ampat islands of western Indonesia.
The relaxed and noted divers of the Australian east coast, north and south, gathered in Port Stephens for the decade’s annual count. 14 divers with the assistance of support crew completed 38 surveys/transects inshore and offshore in mixed conditions that were ameliorated by the relatively warm waters of 20 – 21 degrees.
Despite less than ideal weather conditions, 11 RLS divers recently descended on Jervis Bay, recording 153 species on 36 transects across 11 sites.
"Tasmanian team bonding" probably best sums up the rocky cape survey weekend, which dished up some testing weather conditions when a team of dedicated RLS divers descended on the Cape this March.
