Who’s ready for warmer spring days filled with fishing, diving and more? We certainly are.
With the aid of the Redmap community, divers, fishers and more, there are now 4,000+ out-of-range, rare or unusual citizen science contributions to Redmap since 2009! With this unique source of data scientists have been able to identify dozens of marine species that are likely to be shifting in range southwards. Some interesting findings this season have been Crowned Nudibranch (Polycera capensis) spotted all the way down in Tasmanian waters and the Roundface batfish (Platax teira) sighted all the way off Albany on the ‘Ex HMAS Perth’ Shipwreck.
Together with other fab citsci projects like iNaturalist and Reef Life Survey (and many others), the depth and breadth of knowledge from Traditional Owners, and all the work from our professional scientists, this helps us have a deeper understanding of how the changing climate is affecting marine species (including where they might be moving to next!).
Large parts of the Australian coastline are projected to be much warmer than average over the next few months (http://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/oceantemp/sst-outlook-map.shtml) so please continue to keep a keen eye out and your camera ready for critters that might be further south than expected!
In this season’s newsletter we’ll introduce you to new members of the Redmap team, give you a guide to identify Southern Rock Lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) and Eastern Rock Lobsters (Sagmariasus verreauxi), a fisheries climate briefing, examples of cool citizen science projects and more!
Happy fishing, boating & diving from the Redmap Team!
Image: Damian Brockie