Project details
- Title:
- Building student capacity in marine mammal and seabird observation for marine conservation
- Id:
- 2678
- Investigator(s):
- Saia Bartes
Deakin University [details]
Ben Arthur
CSIRO National Collections and Marine Infrastructure [details] Nina Wootton
University of Adelaide [details]
- Description:
-
This project will establish a low-cost, standardised marine megafauna observation program with the dual aim of generating ecologically meaningful observations and providing students with hands-on training in observational marine science. It will compare marine mammal and seabird occurrence and composition across different Australian coasts while integrating these observations with the broader oceanographic, geological, geomorphological, and ecosystem context sampled during the voyage. This project addresses both a disciplinary gap and a growing national need for accessible, scalable approaches to ecosystem observation in Australian marine systems facing increasing anthropogenic pressures. This need is particularly relevant as expanding offshore industries, including resource extraction, seismic exploration, and offshore wind energy, increasingly require robust ecological baselines and trained Marine Mammal Observers to support environmental assessment, mitigation, and compliance.
- Years:
- 2026
List of surveys that this project was on.
Use [details] link to view survey details (map, reports, metadata etc) including links to download data.
| Survey | Investigator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IN2026_T04 [details] |
Gabriela Semolini Pilo |
The Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea Training Alliance Network (CAPSTAN) is a maritime education and training initiative of CSIRO, the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC). The Program is supported by grants of sea time on RV Investigator (RVI) from the CSIRO Marine National Facility and through funding from the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). There are no specific scientific objectives for this voyage, however the CAPSTAN platform aims to: · Develop and provide an effective vessel‐based tertiary education experience involving national stakeholders and post-graduate students, by pooling national tertiary teaching expertise and personnel resources; · Develop a national curriculum to standardise teaching protocols/methods and learning outcomes in conjunction with the new data collection equipment and facilities of the CSIRO research vessel RVI, the Integrated Marine Observatory System and external stakeholders, and; · Provide and test a multi‐disciplinary research‐based teaching module for marine science postgraduates with opportunities for student mobility and national network development. In addition to CAPSTAN’s core training objectives, this multidisciplinary voyage will explore: 1. The collection of geological samples of the Loyalty Ridge. 2. Measurement of the biogeochemical and physical properties upstream and downstream of a seamount in the Western Coral Sea. 3. Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) Surveys 4. Investigation into the distribution of microplastics in surface/subsurface water 5. Biodiversity characterisation using eDNA metabarcoding |