Latest Breaking News On - Scott reef - Page 9 : comparemela.com
From the Archives 1887: Cyclone destroys pearling fleet off WA coast
brisbanetimes.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from brisbanetimes.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
From the Archives 1887: Cyclone destroys pearling fleet off WA coast
theage.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theage.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Rowley Shoals: thriving Australian reef shows what’s possible when ecosystems are untouched by humans Graham Readfearn
What would a tropical reef look like if it could escape the man-made perils of global heating and overfishing?
A new study suggests it would look like Rowley Shoals, an isolated archipelago of reefs 260km off Australia’s north-west coast.
“As soon as you jump in you realise there’s something special,” said fish biologist Matthew Birt. “The coral cover is amazing.”
Birt has just led a study on the three reefs that make up the uninhabited Rowley Shoals, using cameras with baits that allowed Birt and colleagues to analyse the marine life over 14 years.
Birt has just led a study on the three reefs that make up the uninhabited Rowley Shoals, using cameras with baits that allowed Birt and colleagues to analyse the marine life over 14 years.
The study found the relative isolation of Rowley Shoals, protections from commercial fishing, and its shape and location has sustained threatened species and rich biodiversity during a time of âunprecedented degradation of coral reefsâ elsewhere around the world.
Giant fish like the humphead Maori wrasse and humphead parrotfish â both growing to more than 1.5m â were seen regularly at Rowley Shoals, despite their globally threatened status.
âWhat was remarkable was there was no real change in the abundance [of fish] through time. We donât see any evidence of decline,â said Birt, of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims).