Coastal activity survey to include people ‘head count’ too

Science Network Western Australia.

A Murdoch University marine scientist has just commenced an aerial survey of the western Kimberley coast.

It will comprise one of the studies intended to inform the management of the new marine parks network.

Professor Lynnath Beckley is taking high-resolution photographs of the coast from a light aircraft before analysing them for the physical presence of humans and their likely activities.

She says people counts are frequently neglected in ecological surveys.

“Generally we find out where the fish are, we find out where the whales are, [but] we actually don’t look where the people are,” she says.

She says the technique has been extensively used in fisheries surveys.

“We generally use 500 meters from the high tide mark as a cut off for our surveys.

“We cover that interface between the land and the sea, and we usually monitor vessels and what they’re doing out to about five kilometres from the coast.

“When we fly we photograph every single activity we see.

“All our digital photos are date-stamped [and] time-stamped against the flight line.

“We’ve got a GPS logger running so we’ve got [the] actual flight line.

“And then we’ve got some crafty software that we’re using now to bring the photos into a database and we identify all the activities in the photos.

“So for example I shoot a photo of the coast line, I know exactly where I am and I see three four-wheel-drive vehicles, three people standing in the shore fishing, two people lying in the sun burning themselves, and three kids swimming, then we detail all of those activities and yes, we map all that sort of stuff.”

She says it takes 2-3 hours to survey 4-500km of coastline.

There are three flight lines; Port Hedland to Broome taking in the Eighty-Mile Beach and Roebuck Bay; Crab Creek to Point Torment including the Dampier Peninsula coastline; and north of Point Torment, taking in the Buccaneer Archipelago and the Camden Sound coast.

“You get an accurate snapshot of where everyone is at the same time,” she says.

“You have people using the coast for recreation and for tourism, for cultural pursuits, for traditional things.

“Mostly people value the biodiversity … but people use that coast all the time, from traditional use, cultural use, to recreation use by the locals, tourists that come in—I think it’s a misnomer to think the western Kimberley coast is pristine.”

Notes: This is a WAMSI project, conducted by Murdoch University scientists under the direction of Prof Beckley.

This story pertains to deliveries in themes 1, 2 and 3 of the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy.

New dolphin for James Price Point suggests inadequate environmental impact assessment: scientist

Robert Mailer and Ben Collins
ABC

Dr Simon Allen says confirmation of a dwarf dolphin not previously recorded in waters off the site for a controversial gas precinct demonstrates that the State Government's environmental impact assessment is sub-standard.

These small dolphins swimming off the West Kimberley coast could be a new species. (June 2012) (Paul Bell -Feral Films)

The dolphin researcher is part of Murdoch University's Cetacean Research Centre which last year made a public submission criticising the Department of State Development's Browse LNG Precinct Strategic Assessment Report on impacts a planned gas processing precinct would have on the marine environment.
The scientists questioned the scientific integrity of this report in part because of their claim that the survey techniques would not be able to distinguish between different species of dolphin. And sure enough, Dr Allen now says that he has determined that there is a type of dolphin not listed in the government report swimming several nautical miles off the coast of James Price Point.

"Its significance lies not in the fact that this is potentially a new species... it's remarkable that a dolphin or a whale could be unknown..."

Dr Allen is yet to confirm the identity of the miniature dolphin which reaches a size of around a metre-and-a-half at maturity. It appears most like the dwarf spinner dolphin found in the Gulf of Thailand, but may yet prove to be a unique species. But Dr Allen is keen to focus on what the dolphin's discovery says about the survey conducted for the State Government's Strategic Assessment rather than the excitement of what may be a species new to science.

"We surely cannot rely on a decision maker to make an assessment on such a large proposal based on an environmental impact assessment that can't identify between one species and another" says Dr Allen.
Woodside petroleum, which is investigating the site of the State Government's gas precinct planned for James Price Point released a statement in response to Dr Allen's criticisms of the marine surveys:
"The Browse LNG Development has invested more than $80 million in environmental studies over many years to provide us with baseline environmental data. This data helps us understand what potential environmental impacts our development may have, and develop best practice approaches to avoiding, mitigating and managing those impacts. The baseline data also provides us with a dataset that we will use to monitor the Browse LNG Development's ongoing environmental performance.

This information also forms the basis of the environmental impact assessments we have supplied to regulators as part of the environmental approvals processes.

The environmental studies, impact assessments and management plans for both the Upstream EIS and the Strategic Assessment have been released for public review and comment and are now before regulators for assessment."

BUSINESS 'Mini dolphin' discovered near site of gas port

GRAHAM LLOYD, ENVIRONMENT EDITOR 

From:

The Australian 

June 02, 2012 12:00AM

A MINIATURE dolphin species has been discovered off the Kimberley coast near the site of the controversial James Price Point gas hub.

Murdoch University dolphin researcher Simon Allen said photographs and biopsy samples from the miniature dolphins, the adults of which appear to measure just 1.5m, had confirmed the significance of the find.

A Woodside Petroleum spokesman said the Browse joint venture had spent more than $80 million to undertake environmental studies, including comprehensive studies of whales and other marine life.

"We are focused on designing our facilities and preparing for construction and operational activities that consider and manage the full range of environmental impacts," the spokesman said.

But Mr Allen said many dolphins had simply been listed as "unidentified" in Woodside's environmental assessment, and that no distinction was made between the normal spinner dolphin and this miniature dolphin.

More data is required to determine whether the miniature dolphin is related to the spinner dolphin, which measures about 2m and has been identified in the area, or the dwarf spinner dolphin, which is known to inhabit the Gulf of Thailand. Two tissue samples from the miniature dolphin have been analysed at a laboratory in Zurich and the test results confirmed the dolphin was a new discovery for the area.

Mr Allen and his colleagues are collecting more samples for further testing. He said it was possible the dolphin would be found to be a new species.

Despite dolphins being some of the most charismatic and popular animals on the planet, Mr Allen said very little was known of the different species across northern Australia. He added that the find reinforced how little was known about life in our 

Social media used to collect information on marine wilderness

Murdoch University

Researchers from Murdoch University's Cetacean Research Unit are working with colleagues from Duke University in the US and Marine Ventures Foundation on an innovative project that will use social media to collect information on one of the world's last great marine wildernesses. Ashley Yeager from Duke University explains.

Just offshore from the rust-colored cliffs of northwestern Australia lie what could be the world's richest petroleum and natural gas fields. The site is also "the last great marine wilderness left on Earth," said Duke University marine biologist Dave Johnston.

To study the remaining wilderness, Johnston has teamed with a Duke alumnus and Australian colleagues at Murdoch University to create a citizen science experiment that will collect observations of the one of the last great marine wildernesses on earth by local residents, traditional owners and tourists through social media tools.

"Our greatest concern is that the traditional environmental assessment process is overwhelmed," said team member Associate Professor Lars Bejder, a marine biologist in Murdoch's Cetacean Research Unit. "The current approval process does not allow sufficient time to document baseline information on the ecosystems of Northwestern Australia through standard scientific means and still keep pace with the rate of development. We hope our approach can help fill some of these gaps," he said.

During several expeditions to Western Australia, the team will document the state of the coastal ecosystems, with a particular focus on the snubfin and humpback dolphins. They also hope to build a network of citizen scientists who will share their experiences in the region through Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube updates. The updates will automatically feed, in real-time, onto an open-access map.

The team hosted their first public lecture on the project at 5:30 WST local time on May 23 at Murdoch University in Perth. This is the first, large-scale experiment in Australia to draw on citizen scientists and social media for data, and the team is not sure what the outcome will be.

"We've seen how these democratizing technologies have incredible power to affect lives. Now, they could do the same for the environment," said team member Thomas McMurray, who earned his doctoral degree in engineering at Duke and serves on the board of visitors for its Nicholas School of the Environment. McMurray is also president of the Marine Ventures Foundation, which, with support from BlueCloud Spatial, will provide the technical support to make the scientists' and citizens' data publicly available.

The main site of research will be in the Kimberley, home to 40,000 Aboriginal Australians. Endangered sea turtles lay eggs on the region's shores, and just offshore an estimated 28,000 humpback whales breed in the winter. The nearshore coastal waters are also home to the little-known Australian snubfin and humpback dolphins.

Bejder and Johnston are particularly concerned about the dolphins because of the lack of information on the abundance, habitat needs and behaviors of the two species. The government has designated certain areas as marine sanctuaries to protect the breeding grounds of humpbacks and other fragile marine ecosystems. But many of those protected regions border on, or overlap with, sites rich in natural resources and the sanctuaries have not been completely set apart from development.

"There's billions of dollars of natural gas out there that could make the country rich," McMurray said. "With the shaky state of the world economy and close proximity to China, the oil and gas available in the region and at other sites could turn Australia into an energy superpower that could rival Venezuela and Saudi Arabia." He said that the Australian government may be faced with difficult choices when balancing the development of wealth-building resources with the conservation of biological and cultural ones.

In 2010, oil and gas industries achieved record growth in Western Australia, exporting nearly $103 billion USD. Another $253 billion USD of projects are scheduled or already under construction. "The region is clearly open for business. But what’s not clear is how the development of oil and gas resources will affect many species or the habitats they rely on," Johnston said.

To support the growing industry, the government has approved great expansions to the region's industrial ports. The construction includes digging hundreds of millions of gallons of sand from beneath port waterways to make them navigable to larger ships. Moving all of that sand and sediment is causing unprecedented, large-scale changes to coastal habitats, which "are likely to affect species such as coastal dolphins that are dependent on the same nearshore environment," Bejder said.

As the different types of data accumulate, the team will be able to apply new analytical tools to figure out how and where human activities and marine resources overlap and potentially conflict. The data and the map may "help provide transparency on what oil and gas companies are doing," McMurray said.

Related expert in this field:

Dr Lars Bejder Impact of tourism on whales and dolphins Dr Lars Bejder leads the world’s largest study into the impact of tourism on whales and dolphins, and Murdoch’s Cetacean Research Unit. His research on the impact of whale watching in Shark Bay led to the Western Australian Government’s decision to decrease the number of licensed dolphin watching tour operators in the state to ensure sustainability. Dr Bejder’s research is also helping the Hawaiian State Government in the US to create legislation protecting their native dolphins from the impact of tourism.

For more information, or to contact this expert, please get in touch with Val McFarlane

Murdoch researchers slam gas hub report

Updated November 11, 2011 15:29:42

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-11/university-scientists-condemn-environmental-report-on-kimberley/3660968

A key document examining the potential impact on marine mammals of a proposed liquefied natural gas precinct near Broome has drawn criticism from scientists.

A team from Murdoch University's Cetacean Research Unit says it has very little confidence in the report's scientific integrity and what it calls its "unfounded" conclusions.

The "Strategic Assessment Report", prepared by the Department of State Development, is designed to provide advice to the State and Federal governments on whether to give final approval to the gas hub which would span 3,530 hectares of land and sea at James Price Point, north of Broome.

The document's many findings include a prediction that activities associated with the LNG hub are unlikely to have an impact on dolphins in the area because the animals are likely to exhibit avoidance responses such as faster dive times and high-speed swimming.

The report also found that dugongs are not likely to be affected by a loss of seagrass due to dredging because they will relocate to adjacent areas to look for food.

On the subject of the estimated 13-thousand humpback whales that migrate through the area each year, the report found they successfully cross shipping corridors with little evidence of vessel strikes further south at Port Hedland and Dampier ports.

But, in a scathing submission, four scientists from Murdoch's Cetacean Research Unit have questioned many of the report's findings.

"There has been no targeted effort to identify and quantify the abundance of dolphin species ... this is a glaring omission in the Environmental Impact Assessment," the submission says.

"Thus the conclusion that the activities associated with the development of the precinct port area is unlikely to impact these species (humpback dolphin, snubfin dolphin) is unsubstantiated and based on field efforts that were aimed at quantifying humpback whale and dugong numbers only."

The unit's Amanda Hodgson told the ABC that a Murdoch University research team had recorded multiple groups of snubfin, Indo-Pacfic humpback and bottlenose dolphins just north and south of James Price Point during a boat-based survey in July last year.

"The coastal dolphins that we know occur along the Dampier Peninsula include humpback and snubfin dolphins and both of those species generally have small populations, small home ranges and they rely on very specific habitats ... so they can't just avoid the area if they're disturbed by this development," she said.

"The broad conclusions that they've come to are not necessarily supported by the scientific literature."

The report's assessment of the impact on dugongs has also been questioned by the Murdoch team which cited the case of Hervey Bay in Queensland where they say the widespread loss of seagrass from a cyclone resulted in the death and emigration of many dugongs.

On the subject of humpback whales, the scientists argue many of the findings in the report are "unreliable".

They have described the report's prediction that whales will successfully cross shipping corridors as "inappropriate" because it is based on a study of just three, satellite-tagged whales traversing the Port Hedland and Dampier Port areas in September, 2010.

"We certainly know that humpback whales get hit by boats and are disturbed by boats," Dr Hodgson said.

"There's plenty of literature to suggest that the impact of boat strikes is significant on humpback whales."

The Department of State Development has defended the report, saying it is based on the findings of work by reputable scientists.

The department says it has received more than 11,000 submissions since the report was released for public comment late last year and that draft responses have been prepared for about 1,000 issues raised in the submissions.

The State's Environmental Protection Authority is expected to make a recommendation to the WA Environment Minister, Bill Marmion, on whether the gas hub should go ahead, and under what conditions, in February.

The project also needs to be approved by the Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke.