An expedition to the crystal clear waters of the Coral Sea in 2006 found a new breeding bird for Australia (see http://www.ecology-solutions.com.au/trip_reports.html). The New Caledonian Fairy Tern is a little known and threatened bird which breeds on remote Pacific islands. In Australia, we usually associate Fairy Terns with a different form which nests on southern coast beaches.
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Every day we shape our planet's future when we make small life decisions - what we buy, what we eat, how we travel. The future of the planet is in our hands; the future is man-made. And we are all "Futuremakers". If we choose to live sustainably, we can assure a future for all living things. And we can have some fun doing it too!
This site, created by WWF-Australia, is a place where you can share ideas with other Futuremakers so that we can live more sustainably. We hope the tips and stories here will be useful for you. (More about this site)
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Oct
30
A Tern for the Better? Rare Bird Found Breeding in the Coral Sea.
Simon Mustoe, Director Applied Ecology Solutions.
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Oct
09
Day 3 - Ancient Green Mariners and Missing Minkes
Given that we had such an amazing encounter with the Minke whales, we anchored at night in the shelter of Challenger bay. Challenger Bay is located at the southern tip of Ribbon Reef #10. The site is composed of a back reef slope with an outstanding diversity of corals and a sandy slope with patches of corals, which drops to approximately 35m. This bay is well renowned dive site given its stunning coral gardens and abundant fish life.
At 7.30am, John Rumney took us out on The White Knight a small little rib used predominately for shark research, for a morning snorkel. As we immersed ourselves in the water we were unexpectedly greeted by a school of thirty Bumphead parrot fish. It is the largest of the parrot fish family and can grow wup to 1.3 metres in length and can live up to 40 years.
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Can you imagine what would happen if Australian scientists discovered a hundred new species of whales and dolphins in our seas? The wires would be buzzing with the news.
However, it’s not whales and dolphins that have been under the scrutiny of scientists of late, but more the ancient and mysterious predators of the ocean - sharks and their close relatives, rays. Read more…
Sep
08
(If you missed it, start from part 1)
Day 2 - Dancing Minkes and Tall Tales of The Sea
Waking up was slightly surreal, the engine was roaring, the boat was rocking – I couldn’t believe it we had been travelling all night – we were now 9 hours away from the mainland. We had arrived at a place called Light House – years of data collection from tourism boats and scientific research has shown that this is the hotspot for Minke whale activity. Expectations were running high – we were all to look out for a fin slicing the surface of the water or that signature blow as the whale exhales a lung full of air into the atmosphere.
11.00am and the doctor shouts Minke! The rope is deployed, I am literally bursting at the seams to jump into the water.
That’s it, I’m in, I move to the end of the rope and then out of the corner of my eye I see it – a minke whale! My heart skips a beat! This is something I have dreamed about since I was a little girl.
And it’s coming closer, I stop still in sheer amazement, this whale is about 6 metres long with at least 6 cookie cutter marks on its back - a sign that these whales are regular visitors of the Coral Sea.
It’s is not long before the whales seem to have called in their comrades to look at the strange spectacle of six humans hanging on a rope. At one point there is up to 10 whales coming at us from every which way – it utterly amazing. After each pass their confidence appears to build and the closer, more magical the encounters are.
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Aug
29
Eye to Eye Encounter - 3
The Dwarf Minke Whale Experience
(If you missed it, start from part 1)
Day 1 – Dreams Come True
5.00pm – After an all day trip from Sydney to Cairns, and Cairns to Port Douglas – I finally boarded what was to be my home for the next six days – a gorgeous little boat called the Phoenix.
The boat crew were warm and welcoming, including Pete the skipper, Michelle the dive instructor with more qualifications than you could count and Charlie the chef. Soon enough the guests started to arrive, among them was Richard Fitzpatrick – an Emmy nominated filmmaker and world renowned shark scientist along with his sidekick - Dr Dean Miller. Dean, also a marine scientist, has worked with Richard on a number projects, on this trip he was here to film the underwater world of the Minke whale. Then there was of course the wonderful John Rumney - a well-loved raconteur and champion for the environment.
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Aug
23
Eye to Eye Encounter - 2
The Dwarf Minke Whale Experience
(If you missed it, start from part 1)
An Adventure to Behold
The trip was organised by John Rumney founder of Eye to Eye Marine Encounters, an ecotourism venture which teams up with world-class marine scientists to offer the ultimate in adventure diving on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.
John Rumney has joined WWF-Australia’s campaign calling for the Coral Sea to be declared a Marine Protected Area - with the aim to unite tourism with research to help people understand the ‘the necessity of marine conservation now and into the future’. That’s John’s mission, and ours too.
The scientific research carried out aboard the boat is part of the Minke Whale Project. A joint initiative of researchers from James Cook University, the Museum of Tropical Queensland and Undersea Explorer. This is its 12th successive year of dwarf minke whales field studies, focusing on their behaviour, biology and interactions with divers and snorkellers in the northern Great Barrier Reef.
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Aug
19
The Coral Sea is one of the world’s last remaining pristine tropical marine environments, a vast wilderness comprised of diverse habitats that play host to a wide range of our ocean’s top predators including whales, sharks and turtles.
Last month I was fortunate enough to join a team of marine scientists, professional photographers and filmmakers on a boat trip that combined a once in a life time experience – to swim with a whale - with hands on scientific research to help understand the biology, ecology and behaviour of these extra ordinary animals that we still know so little about.
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Jun
26
Hi – I’m Lydia, WWF Australia’s Tropical Marine and Coastal Policy Manager and I am so excited to be part of WWF’s campaign to Save the Coral Sea.
I just spent the last few days in Port Douglas meeting with the some wonderful scientists from James Cook University to learn more about the beautiful Dwarf MinkeWhale. These magnificent creatures are a regular visitor of the Northern Great Barrier Reef between June and July and are known to inhabit the Coral Sea. It was fascinating to learn about these research that James Cook University are doing in collaboration Museum of tropical Queensland and Undersea Explorer – apparently the whales have been shown to exhibit a behavior called pirouetting where they spin vertically in water like a ballerina - amazing!
The Coral Sea campaign has been gathering momentum over the last couple of weeks and we’ve been really pleased by the amount of media attention that has been generated. There’s been wide coverage on TV, radio newspapers and magazines and of course, as you’re reading this, our website has been a hit too!
In many ways the real work starts now as we have to translate the obvious interest and concern that we all share for the future of the Coral Sea into action. The challenge is not to let the Coral Sea slip from the minds of our decision-makers and while WWF will keep building the case for protection, your help in showing your interest will also be key. Why not take a moment to sign the petition?
Our Coral Sea celebrity ambassadors have certainly been doing their part with Mimi MacPherson doing some wonderful TV interviews and she and Elka Graham also having a star feature in the New Idea magazine. We will soon have the results of some of the new shark research that we undertook on the Coral Sea expedition so stay tuned for the next update!
Sep
17
Hi - I’m Rick, WWF-Australia’s Tropical Marine and Coastal Policy Manager and I’ve just returned from the Coral Sea on board the Undersea Explorer - a research/tourism vessel. Part of WWF’s work to push for more protection for the Coral Sea is to raise the profile of this spectacular area, and that’s what this trip was all about.
Going out to sea for 4 days with a bunch of media people and a couple of WWF’s celebrity ambassadors might not sound like hard work, but with 2-3 metre swells and 25 knot winds it wasn’t too easy either! Fortunately everyone one board loved the trip and once we were in the water checking out the Coral Sea’s awesome marine wonders any thoughts of sea-sicknesses soon disappeared.
A major highlight of the trip was when marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick retrieved a data logger that had been placed on a grey reef shark 6 months previously. This is a world first and we are keenly waiting to hear what insights into these amazing animals these data will provide.
I think we all returned to shore with a greater appreciation of the uniqueness of the Coral Sea and the realisation that we need to protect the wonderful area before it suffers a similar fate to other tropical marine regions. Please keep coming back to the blog to hear how the campaign is going and hear some more tales from WWF’s Coral Sea expedition.
Rick @ WWF
