13th Consecutive Monitoring Surveys at Rottnest Island Completed: The spread of COVID-19 in early 2020 saw the world come to an almost complete standstill but the need to collect robust data and to continue monitoring the marine environment remained a high priority.
Fortunately, an easing of restrictions in WA in early April provided a perfect opportunity for a team of [sociallydistanced] RLS divers to head out & complete the 13th consecutive year of monitoring at Rottnest Island.
First Red Handfish (Thymichthys politus) population census undertakenby RLS divers: In association with the University of Tasmania & thanks to funding from The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, a group of RLS volunteers spent 4 days in January 2020 conducting the first-ever full census of the only know Red Handfish (Thymicthys politus) populations in the world.
2019/20 saw 563 surveys completed from 236 sites by 54 divers.
