outhern right whales at Point Ann, Fitzgerald River National Park. Photo by Peter Nicholas/DBCA

Whales and dolphins - Photo by Peter Nicholas/DBCA

About Marine Science 

The Marine Science Program aims to improve the scientific basis for the conservation and management of Western Australia’s State-wide system of marine protected areas, threatened and protected marine fauna, and marine biodiversity.
 
Program staff are skilled in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of marine ecological data and possess expertise across a range of ecological, biological and conservation topics.
 
The program:
  • Undertakes strategic and standardised long-term monitoring on the ecological values of Western Australia’s marine park network, threatened and protected marine fauna
  • Undertakes and facilitates prioritised marine research across Western Australia
  • Coordinates and delivers environmental offsets
  • Provides ecological information to inform annual reports to the conservation and parks commission on the status of marine parks, and the various management strategies employed to manage them
  • Partners with universities (including student supervision), other research organisations, and other sectors of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

Active monitoring programs

The Marine Science Program undertakes a range of regular monitoring programs to provide data to inform management and conservation. Find out about some of our regular monitoring programs below.

Coral monitoring

Monitored annually
  • Ningaloo Marine Park
Monitored once every three years
  • Bardi Jawi Gaarra Marine Park
  • Lalang-gaddam Marine Park
  • Mayala Marine Park
  • Montebello/Barrow Islands Marine Conservation Reserves
  • North Kimberley Marine Park
  • Rowley Shoals Marine Park
  • Shark Bay Marine Park

Dugong monitoring

Monitored every five years
  • Exmouth Gulf
  • Ningaloo Marine Park
  • Shark Bay Marine Park

Invertebrate monitoring

Intertidal invertebrates
Monitored once every three years
  • Jurien Bay Marine Park
  • Marmion Marine Park
  • Ngari Capes Marine Park
  • Shoalwater Islands Marine Park
 
Sub-tidal invertebrates
Monitored once every two years
  • Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park
 
Monitored once every three years
  • Jurien Bay Marine Park
  • Montebello/Barrow Islands Marine Conservation Reserves
  • Ngari Capes Marine Park
  • Ningaloo Marine Park
  • Rowley Shoals Marine Park
  • Shark Bay Marine Park

Fish monitoring

Monitored once every three years

  • Bardi Jawi Gaarra Marine Park
  • Jurien Bay Marine Park
  • Lalang-gaddam Marine Park
  • Marmion Marine Park
  • Mayala Marine Park
  • Montebello Islands Marine Park
  • Ngari Capes Marine Park
  • Ningaloo Marine Park
  • North Kimberley Marine Park
  • Rowley Shoals Marine Park
  • Shark Bay Marine Park
  • Shoalwater Islands Marine Park

Monitoring program under development

  • Eighty Mile Beach Marine Park
  • Mamang-Maambakoort Marine Park
  • Mirning Marine Park
  • Wudjari Marine Park
  • Western Bight Marine Park

Macroalgae monitoring

Monitored once every two years

  • Marmion Marine Park
  • Shoalwater Islands Marine Park

Monitored once every three years

  • Jurien Bay Marine Park
  • Ngari Capes Marine Park

Monitoring program under development

  • Mamang-Maambakoort Marine Park
  • Mirning Marine Park
  • Wudjari Marine Park
  • Western Bight Marine Park

Penguin monitoring

Monitored fortnightly during breeding season (April–December)

  • Shoalwater Islands Marine Park (Penguin Island)

Pinniped monitoring

Australian sea lions

Monitored monthly during peak breeding season

  • Abrolhos Islands
  • Carnac Island Nature Reserve
  • Jurien Bay Marine Park
  • Marmion Marine Park
  • Shoalwater Island Marine Park

Long-nosed fur seals

Monitored monthly during peak breeding season

  • Ngari Capes Marine Park

Seagrass monitoring

Monitored annually

  • Ngari Capes Marine Park (shallow sites)

Monitored once every two years

  • Marmion Marine Park
  • Ngari Capes Marine Park (deep sites)
  • Shoalwater Islands Marine Park

Monitored once every three years

  • Jurien Bay Marine Park
  • Shark Bay Marine Park
  • Yawuru Nagulagun/Roebuck Bay Marine Park

Monitoring program under development

  • Mamang-Maambakoort Marine Park
  • Mirning Marine Park
  • Wudjari Marine Park
  • Western Bight Marine Park

Snubfin dolphin monitoring

Monitored once every two years

  • Lalang-gaddam Marine Park (Malandoom Prince Regent River)
  • Yawuru Nagulagun/Roebuck Bay Marine Park

Turtle monitoring

Monitored every year by North West Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program

  • Cape Dommett
  • Delambre Island
  • Eco Beach
  • Thevenard Island
  • Yawuru Nagulagun/Roebuck Bay Marine Park

The North West Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program also assists with monitoring programs at the below locations

  • Cable Beach
  • Cape Lambert (Wickham)
  • Port Hedland (Care for Hedland)
  • Eighty Mile Beach

Water temperature monitoring

Monitored every year

  • All Marine Parks

Water quality monitoring

Monitored twice per year

  • Yawuru Nagulagun/Roebuck Bay Marine Park
  • Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park

Active research projects

The Marine Science Program has a range of active research projects underway to improve our understanding of marine biodiversity, ecosystems and conservation. A list of current projects are below, while detail on these and previous research projects can be found in the Biodiversity and Conservation Science annual research reports.

Marine Science Program

  • A partnership approach to filling key knowledge gaps on dugongs in northern Australia using novel technologies
  • Alternative eDNA methodologies for fish detection
  • Assessing pressure on coral communities from snorkelers at high visitation sites in Ningaloo Marine Park
  • Advancing observations and predictions of WA marine heatwaves
  • Prioritising onground actions for the endangered Australian sea lion
  • Australian sea lions in the Perth metropolitan area: abundance, movement and habitat use
  • Australian wide synthesis of baited video data to answer broad-scale ecological questions
  • Benefits of marine parks for marine fishes in a changing climate
  • Collation of historic data for Shark Bay, Marmion and Shoalwater Islands Marine Parks
  • Conservation and management of humpback whales in the Pilbara region
  • Detection and identification of dugong through seawater eDNA
  • Distribution and abundance estimate of Australian snubfin dolphins at a key site in the Kimberley region, Western Australia
  • Diversity of infaunal polychaete assemblages in Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park (collaboration with Museums Victoria)
  • Do marine reserves adequately represent high diversity cryptobenthic fish assemblages in a changing climate?
  • Dugong population and habitat survey - Shark Bay and Ningaloo
  • Efficacy of electronic shark deterrents on a schooling shark species
  • Global FinPrint
  • Integrating ecological, social and cultural values of the coastal waters of Roebuck Bay (collaboration)
  • Mudcrabs in Roebuck Bay: Supporting Yawuru traditional owners to manage culturally important resources
  • New type of communal microbialite in tropical waters
  • Spatial and temporal patterns of temperate reef communities in southwest Australia
  • Spatial and temporal patterns in the structure of intertidal reef communities in the marine parks of south-western Australia
  • Spatial and temporal patterns in benthic invertebrate communities of the Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park
  • Spatial ecology of Campanile symbolicum in the Ngari Capes (collaboration with The University of Western Australia)
  • Spatio-temporal variability of coral reefs at the global scale: causalities, idiosyncrasies and implications for ecological indicators
  • The influence of macroalgal fields on coral reef fish
  • Understanding the key ecosystem services provided by the seagrass meadows of Western Australia
  • Understanding the drivers of hypoxic events and impacts to the coral communities in Bill’s Bay, Ningaloo Marine Park
  • Whaleshark behavioural response to tourism interaction in Ningaloo Marine Park

North West Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program

The North West Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program is a 60-year flatback turtle conservation program implemented by the Marine Science Program. You can read more about the program and volunteering opportunities on their website.

  • Impact of environmental conditions on the foraging habitat, behaviour and health of flatback turtles (Natator depressus) – co-supervision of PhD project with Murdoch University
  • Investigating flatback’s diet using eDNA
  • Linking distributional and dietary patterns with the health of green turtles in Yawuru Nagulagun Roebuck Bay Marine Park – co-supervision of PhD project with Murdoch University        
  • Monitoring sand temperatures along Western Australian coastline        
  • Skeletochronology and stable isotope analyses of flatback turtles        
  • Understanding cumulative impacts from human activities on sea turtles’ critical habitats in Western Australia        
  • Understanding movements and identifying important habitats of sea turtles in Western Australia        
  • Understanding predator-prey interactions between ghost crabs and marine turtles for better management of an endangered species

Our people

Thomas HolmesMarine Science Program Leader
Scott WhitingPrincipal Research Scientist (Northwest Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program)
Kelly WaplesPrincipal Research Scientist
Richard EvansMarine Monitoring Coordinator
Holly RaudinoSenior Research Scientist (Marine Fauna)
Osmar LuizSenior Research Scientist (Marine Ecosystems)
Sabrina Fossette-HalotSenior Research Scientist (Northwest Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program)
Tristan SimpsonSenior Environmental Officer (Knowledge Exchange)
Will RobbinsResearch Scientist
Claire RossResearch Scientist (Corals)
Tahlia BassettResearch Scientist (Corals)
Jordan GoetzeResearch Scientist (Fish)
Simone StrydomResearch Scientist (Seagrass)
Julian TyneResearch Scientist (Marine Fauna)
Ines LealResearch Scientist (Invertebrates)
Kevin CrookResearch Scientist
Tanika ShaldersResearch Scientist (Temperate Benthic)
Iain ParnumResearch Officer (Marine Remote Sensing)
Molly MoustakaResearch Scientist (Dampier)
Clodagh GuildeaProject Officer (Science Communication and Education)
Natasha SamuelrajAdministrative Assistant
James GeeSenior Technical Officer
Damon DriessenSenior Technical Officer
Kiehana CarterTechnical Officer
Daisy ChurchTechnical Officer
Kate LivingstonTechnical Officer
Cydney Williamson-SmithTechnical Officer
Shannon PughTechnical Officer
Belle MullinsTechnical Officer
Eleanor WiseTechnical Officer
Eva RobinsonTechnical Officer
Nidhi MenonTechnical Officer
Mike TaylorTechnical Officer
Joana AlmeidaTechnical Officer

Related

Animal Science Program

Research program to understand the factors and processes critical to the conservation of WA’s unique native fauna.

Biodiversity Information Office

Making Western Australian biodiversity data more discoverable, accessible, and usable.

Ecosystem Science Program

Research program to understand the environmental, ecological and biogeographical processes that determine the conservation values, health and productivity of the lands and inland waters managed by the department.

Fire Science Program

Research to inform fire management and biodiversity conservation in Western Australia.

Kings Park Science Program

Research program in native plant biology and ecology, ex situ conservation, and ecological restoration, informing the conservation and management of Western Australia's biodiversity and ecosystems.

Perth Zoo Science Program

Research program to support the breed-for-release programs for six threatened species.

Plant Science and Herbarium Program

Research, collections management and biodiversity knowledge program to create and disseminate new knowledge on the diversity, distribution, evolution and ecology of the state’s flora. 

Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis Program

Research program to integrate the science and application of remote sensing and spatial analysis into departmental programs.

Rivers and Estuaries Science Program

Research program to undertake and support research across a wide range of disciplines to address knowledge gaps and inform management of the Swan Canning Riverpark. 

Species and Communities Program

Species and Communities Program coordinates the listing, management and recovery of threatened species, ecological communities and wetlands.

Acknowledgement of Country

The Government of Western Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners throughout Western Australia and their continuing connection to the land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all members of the Aboriginal communities and their cultures; and to Elders both past and present.