Australia

The present study examined shark distribution patterns, species-habitat associations, and marine reserve use with baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS) along the entire Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) over a ten-year period.

Overall, researchers recorded 21 different shark species. The relative abundance of sharks was significantly higher in non-fished sites in the GBR Marine Park no-fishing zones relative to fished sites.

The policy allowing for the culling of any sharks longer than 3m was introduced after seven lethal shark attacks in three years off West Australian beaches. WA’s government proposed the new program in an effort to keep beachgoers safe that involved setting out baited drum lines, which consist of a large baited hook attached to a buoy and an anchor to hold it in place, in designated zones along popular beaches with the intention of killing great white sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks who were larger than three meters.

The coral Leptoseris is living 410 feet (125 meters) below the ocean's surface, a discovery that expedition leader Pim Bongaerts of the University of Queensland called "mind-blowing."

Bongaerts and his colleagues received funding from insurer the Catlin Group Limited to explore the Great Barrier Reef as part of an effort to understand how climate change is altering the oceans.

Scientists identified two distinct populations of white shark at the east and west of Bass Strait in Australian waters, prompting researchers to suggest the huge fish may need a regional conservation plan.

The study examined tissue samples from 97 sharks collected around Australia since 1989 which were caught in beach safety programs, as fishery bycatch and during Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) field research. Its findings are broadly consistent with satellite and acoustic tracking research led by CSIRO’s Barry Bruce.

In what Australian officials called an outrageous fraud, Japanese fishers probably used a series of disguises for the overcatch and international investigations have found.

The fishers described southern bluefin tuna as a different species and evaded any inspection on shore, underreported the amount of the fish they caught, and imported it as different tuna either transhipped at sea from foreign vessels or in containers. In a review that the Japanese government has vetoed from public release, investigators found the fraud extended to consumer markets.

After a seven-year campaign by Australian Federal and State governments, Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef has been awarded World Heritage status at UNESCO’s June meeting in Paris. Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke heralds the inscription as a major achievement. “The Ningaloo coast’s striking land and seascape tells a dramatic story about the formation of oceans, movement of continents and changes in our climate,” he said.

Her journey across the Indian Ocean from a nesting beach in East Java to Kimberley in Western Australia demonstrates the strong biological ties between Indonesia and the reefs on the west Australian coast.

“Ana’s journey has revealed an ‘oceanic superhighway’ that helps us better understand how marine turtles navigate around the world’s oceans as well as highlighting the strong ecological and evolutionary connections between Indonesia and Australia’s Kimberley-Pilbara coast,” said Gilly Llewellyn, WWF Ocean’s Program Leader.