Plundered for their unique body parts, sawfish are on the brink

 Australian native freshwater species, community, education, fisheries, government, research, threatened species, waterways/wetlands
Jul 092014
 

Original story by Peter Kyne, Charles Darwin University at The Conversation

Sawfish are the most endangered group of marine fish in the world, largely thanks to overfishing and habitat loss. Formerly abundant, they have disappeared from many countries’ waters, and in many others they are scarcely holding on.
The world’s five species of sawfish are the most threatened fishes in the world. Photo: David Wackenfelt

The world’s five species of sawfish are the most threatened fishes in the world. Photo: David Wackenfelt

To put it bluntly, sawfish have been devastated. But we could reverse the trend. Recently the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Shark Specialist Group released the first Global Sawfish Conservation Strategy. It won’t be easy, but they are steps we need to take if we are to save the world’s threatened sawfish. Continue reading »

Prehistoric Australian fish species in danger of extinction

 Australian native freshwater species, pest species, research, threatened species, waterways/wetlands
Jul 052014
 

Original story at Bush Telegraph

One of the oldest fish species in Australia that predates the breaking up of Gondwanaland, is under threat.
The ancient Salamander Fish, the Lepidogalaxias salamandroides, is facing threat from a lack of rainfall and a predator. Photo: Brad Pusey

The ancient Salamander Fish, the Lepidogalaxias salamandroides, is facing threat from a lack of rainfall and a predator. Photo: Brad Pusey

The salamander type fish is found in an isolated pocket of Western Australia in an area known as the Southern Acid Peat Flats, west of Albany. Continue reading »

Barred Galaxias (Galaxias fuscus) in the Goulburn River catchment

 Australian native freshwater species, threatened species, waterways/wetlands
Jun 262014
 

By Greg Wallis (pseudechis) at YouTube

The beautiful Barred Galaxias (Galaxias fuscus) is a critically endangered small native freshwater fish found in the headwaters of the Goulburn River in Victoria. Due largely to it’s very restricted distribution and the adverse impacts of introduced predatory trout, the few remaining populations of Barred Galaxias are heavily fragmented and isolated from one another. This means that single populations are particularly vulnerable to threats from wildfires, siltation and logging, with no way of that population being re-established should it go locally extinct. Continue reading »

Dugong health project in Queensland’s Moreton Bay

 government, research, threatened species, waterways/wetlands
Jun 132014
 

orginal story by Russell Varley, ABC News

A marine researcher on Queensland’s Gold Coast says conditions for dugongs in Moreton Bay have improved after the environment was badly affected by Brisbane’s 2011 floods.

A dugong feeding on seagrass in Moreton Bay.

A dugong feeding on seagrass in Moreton Bay.

Sea World on the Gold Coast, the University of Queensland, and the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium are checking dugong health in a project that started seven years ago.

Up to 20 dugongs will be captured to carry out the health assessment, with Sea World welcoming a federal grant of $250,000 for whale and dolphin research. Continue reading »

Outrage over car park plans for wetland

 community, environment, government, threatened species, waterways/wetlands, wildlife
Jun 072014
 

Original story by Damien Larkins and Russell Varley, ABC Gold Coast

Racehorse trainers and conservationists are angry at plans to fill in a wetland area near the Gold Coast Turf Club.
The wetland is home to a nesting black swan and dozens of other bird species. Photo: Damien Larkins

The wetland is home to a nesting black swan and dozens of other bird species. Photo: Damien Larkins

Trainers received an email on Thursday afternoon that work was going to start the next morning, as preparations continue for the Gold Coast Show to move to the Turf Club.

The email says the 2.75 hectare swamp area will be used for parking at the show and large race days but otherwise will be free for trainers to walk their horses the rest of the time. Continue reading »

New crayfish traps will save platypus from drowning

 Australian native freshwater species, community, research, threatened species, waterways/wetlands, wildlife
Jun 052014
 
The platypus is vulnerable to opera house traps set to catch crayfish.

The platypus is vulnerable to opera house traps set to catch crayfish.

Original story at Wildlife Extra

The Australian Platypus Conservancy (APC) has been carrying out trials on a new design of a type of crayfish trap called an opera house trap. Opera house traps are widely sold in Australia to deploy in rivers to catch crayfish for eating. Unfortunately, these same rivers are populated by air-breathing platypus that cannot escape from the traps once they have entered them and so drown. The new design is fitted with a circular escape hatch in the roof, through which platypus can find their way back out. The research, funded by the Taronga Conservation Society, involved 34 adults and 24 juvenile platypus to establish how easily the animals found the escape holes.

Of the four animals tested during daylight hours, all escaped within one minute of being introduced to a trap. At night, 63 per cent of tested animals managed to find their own way out within one minute and 19 per cent in 1-2 minutes. All exited via the escape hatch in the roof. Given that a platypus can hold its breath for approximately two and a half minutes when active, these findings suggest that a large proportion of wild platypus are likely to escape from a modified trap before they drown. Continue reading »

Call to ban trade on iconic nautilus seashell

 fisheries, research, threatened species
Jun 022014
 

Media release from The University of Adelaide

An internationally renowned palaeontologist, who has recently joined the University of Adelaide, is calling for a global ban on the trade of the highly sought-afterNautilus seashell – including from Western Australian reefs.
Nautilus belauensis, Palau. Photo: Manuae/Wikimedia Commons

Nautilus belauensis, Palau. Photo: Manuae/Wikimedia Commons

Peter Ward, new Professor in the University’s Sprigg Geobiology Centre, has just returned from the Philippines where he discovered the Nautilus was close to extinction at sites known for Nautilus fishing.

Professor Ward is taking his findings from the Philippines and other expeditions to a meeting in Washington DC next week of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This meeting will determine US policy on Nautilus trade before the next round of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Continue reading »

Warmer world might push sea turtles numbers up

 environment, research, threatened species, waterways/wetlands
May 192014
 

Original story by Rachel Sullivan, ABC

While warming temperatures will produce more female than male sea turtle hatchings, sea turtle populations will not crash — at least for the next few decades, a new study suggests.
A few male loggerhead turtles will go a long way as temperatures warm. Although females will rule, males breed more often and can fertilise multiple clutches.

A few male loggerhead turtles will go a long way as temperatures warm. Although females will rule, males breed more often and can fertilise multiple clutches.

In fact, sea turtle populations will increase because males breed more frequently than females, report researchers today in Nature Climate Change.

Sex in many reptile species is determined by temperature during incubation. For sea turtles incubation temperatures below 29°C produce male hatchlings; above that temperature females are produced. Continue reading »

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