Out of the Blue

Lady Elliot Island is one of the southernmost islands on the Great Barrier Reef. Once degraded by mining for fertiliser, it has since been restored and breeding seabirds have returned. Now researchers are untangling the relationship between the land and sea, helping scientists understand how this ecosystem works and how it might serve as a climate refuge in a warming world. It's an amazing story f...

New research has revealed over 300 species of Australian marine species are declining at a rate that threatens them with extinction - including the Weedy Seadragon. The research, which draws on Australia-wide data collected by the Reef Life Survey over the past two decades, looked at populations of over 1,000 species of seaweeds, fish, corals and other invertebrates. We speak to Dr John Turnbull f...

Seaweed is being touted a solution to all sorts of environmental challenges, from feeding people and livestock, and reducing the need to cut down forests, to creating new materials to replace plastics. But how much of the oceans should be farmed, and what would that mean for the plants and animals that already live there? We speak to Scott Spillias from the University of Queensland about his new r...

Research has revealed that only a third of flake sold in fish and shops in South Australia is actually gummy shark. Other species included four endangered sharks. We speak to Professor Bronwyn Gillanders from the University of Adelaide to find out how endangered sharks are making their way into the fryer, and how food labelling regulations can be tightened up to protect sharks. Also, we chat to Dr...

The giant Scarborough gas project off the coast of Western Australia is one of the biggest fossil fuel projects proposed in Australia in recent years. Environmental groups are trying to stop the project, and others like it, through the courts, in a strategy that could change the way governments deal with fossil fuel projects. We get the lowdown from Rebekkah Markey-Towler from the University of Me...

Seventy years ago the British conducted the first of three nuclear weapons tests on the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia. Surprisingly, no one has looked at the bomb's impact on marine life. Maddy Hoffman at Edith Cowan University is studying how much radiation might be left in the ocean after the tests. Read about her research. Also, the Australian Government has recently rel...

We're all too aware of natural disasters that strike the land - but what about those that happen at sea? In this episode we learn about how the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020 have left a lasting impact on coastal waters. We speak to Thay Barros from the University of New South Wales to find out more. Read about Thay's research here. Also, a mystery solved. In 2016, more than 40 million mangro...

Twenty years ago Victoria set up oen of the world's most comprehensive networks of marine parks. We chat to Michael Sam from Parks Victoria to learn about how this came about, and what's next for our precious marine parks. Find out more. Plus, a new roadmap for protecting Australia's coastal environment. We chat to Megan Saunders from the CSIRO to find out more. Read the report here. Image: Weedy...

In this episode, we catch up with Dr Travis Dutka from La Trobe University, to find out about the amazing discovery of huge bryozoan reefs in Westernport Bay. Bryozoans, a unique type of colonial animal, rarely form such large reefs in such shallow water - these recently discovered reefs are globally special. Also, we talk to Jill Wheeler, a ranger at Parks Victoria who looks after some of Port Ph...

The yearly gathering of thousands of Spider Crabs in Port Phillip Bay's shallow waters is one of Victoria's most spectacular natural phenomena. But we know surprisingly little about how many crabs there are and what triggers them to migrate. To help find the answers, scientists are asking the community to get involved in Spider Crab Watch and report any time they see Spider Crabs in Victoria. We s...

In this episode, we chat to Simba Chan from the Japan Bird Research Association about the incredible story of the critically endangered Chinese Crested Tern. These seabirds live and breed between the seas between China and Japan, part of what's known as the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a highway for sea birds and shorebirds that extends from Australia to the Arctic. Conservationists who work in...

In this episode, James talks to Mark Rodrigue from Parks Victoria about a new plan to control coastal weed sea spurge along Victoria's coast. To plan - to release a new fungus that kills the spurge - will help species like Little Penguins. Find out more. We also chat to Adelaide Dedden, a researcher at the University of New South Wales, about her new research looking at what whale baleen can tell...

With Antarctic sea ice reaching a record low level in February, we chat to Klaus Meiners from the Australian Antarctic Division to find out what this means for Antarctic ecosystems. Also we catch up with Amellia Formby to find out about her Wing Threads project and her plan to fly her microlight around Australia to put the spotlight on threats to migratory shorebirds. Find out more at wingthreads....

Back in 2016 the Great Barrier Reef suffered its worst mass coral bleaching. So bad was the event that a US magazine published a satirical obituary for the reef. The article caused a stir in Australia - and research by Kerrie Foxwell-Norton at Griffith University suggests it might have done more harm than good. Read more: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X211055852And in more new re...

Two global meetings are underway: COP26, in which world leaders are meeting to make new goals on addressing climate change, and COP15, the international meeting on biodiversity, where nations are discussing a goal to protect a third of the land and seas. Climate activist Greta Thunberg has criticised the meetings for just being a talk fest. So what's at stake? In this episode, we speak to Mibu Fis...

In this episode of Out Of The Blue, we get the latest on the Tasmanian governments plan for the farmed salmon industry. We're joined by Peter George from the Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection. We're also joined by Alastair Allan from the Bob Brown Foundation to discus what's happening in Antarctica, where governments around the world are deciding whether to create large new marine protected...

As Australia faces pressure to end use of fossil fuels, a new fight is emerging in Bass Strait against gas developments. Recently campaigners went to King Island to protest seismic tests for gas, with concerns the explosions may harm marine life. We caught up with Ally King from Surfriders Southern Tasmania and Tom Allen from the Wilderness Society to find out more. Find out more:No Gas Across The...

In this episode, we hear from Luke Halpin, who recently discovered that giant centipedes are eating his seabird research subjects on a tiny island off Norfolk Island. We hear about the difficulties of seabird research and why it's so important for ocean conservation. Find out more on The Conversation. Also, we get an update on the Melbourne Sea Slug Census from Nicole Mertens of the Victorian Nati...

Toondah Harbour on the coast near Brisbane is a globally significant wetland and a vital stopover for shorebirds such as the critically endangered Eastern Curlew. It's under threat from a property development and campaigners are calling for the project to be stopped. We speak to campaigner Andrew Hunter from Birdlife Australia. Find out more at: https://www.actforbirds.org/savetoondahStaying in Qu...

There's been plenty of talk about Tasmania's salmon farming industry lately. Award-winning author Richard Flanagan's latest book Toxic makes a number of alarming claims about the industry's impact on Tasmania's marine ecosystems. So where can we turn to if we're concerned about eating salmon farmed in Tasmania? In this show, James speaks to Adrian Meder from the Australian Marine Conservation Soci...

In this episode, James talks to Dr Chayya Chaudhary, a post-doctoral fellow at the Goethe Institute, about how climate change is upending the pattern of life in the oceans. Tropical species are moving south, which is bad news for temperate species, and all the people who depend on marine life in tropical oceans. Read more about her research on The Conversation. And we hear about some of Australia'...

How do you keep track of what's happening in the oceans? Since 2008 the Reef Life Survey has completed more than 13,000 underwater surveys on every continent, led by hundreds of volunteer divers. It's an unparalleled insight into how our oceans are changing, and they've uncovered some startling and worrying trends. In this episode, James catches up with volunteer diver John Turnbull to find out wh...

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest changing environments on the planet. Warming rapidly, its also seeing increasing pressure from fishing, tourism, and scientific expeditions. Recently a group of women wrote a letter in the journal Nature calling for the seas around the Peninsula to be protected. James speaks to Dr Carolyn Hogg from the University of Sydney about why this region must be...

In this episode, James chats to Zena Cumpston, a Barkandji woman and research fellow at the University of Melbourne, to find out all about eels that still make their way through the drains of the university, following old watercourses buried under the concrete. Zena tells us about her research on Indigenous knowledge and the importance of learning about our pre-invasion environment. Find out more...

In this episode, we speak to Monash University Phd candidate James Rule about his exciting fossil findings on Port Phillip Bay. James and his team recently discovered nine fossil seals, dating back to six million years ago when the bay was warmer, and much more dangerous. But these seals aren't like the ones found around Melbourne today: they're smaller to start with. Find out more about James' wo...