Big blue groper, dhufish and lobsters being protected within sanctuary zones….These were discussed with the Rottnest Island Authority the day before the 10th annual RLS monitoring weekend at Rottnest Island. This discussion proved almost prophetic, with the surveys over the weekend finding lobsters abundant, more dhufish than ever in the last decade (at least 14 across four different sites), and four blue groper (one a very large male).
RLS recently surveyed Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve in Western Australia, with the team recording 76 species of fish on method 1 and 35 species of invertebrates and cryptic fishes on method 2.
Despite the rain, we completed 46 surveys across 26 sites, from Shellharbour to Bouddi, in Sydney Harbour NSW. We went back to our old favourites, like Shelly Beach and Bare Island, and added repeat surveys to new sites which we intend to maintain, like Boat Harbour and Cruwee Cove.
Yanir Seroussi: volunteer RLS diver, data scientist and software engineer extraordinaire.
The plan was to sail from Gladstone out to the southern Coral Sea. We had a narrow weather window so, after a quick stop at Lady Musgrave to get me up to speed with the RLS protocol, we sailed 36 hours straight to Cato Island. Our crew of three included my partner Bruce, Graham Edgar, and myself. It was the first time we had been to the southern Coral Sea...
