On the 10th of June 2023, scientists from the Salmon Interactions Team hosted a second Salmon Science Open House event at the Hobart waterfront alongside representatives from CSIRO and the FRDC. Following on from a similar event hosted in June 2022 this public “drop-in” event provided an opportunity for other scientists, industry stakeholders and interested […]
Our seaweed scientists are mapping the distribution, abundance and chemical variation of Asparagopsis armata around Tasmania to support a budding aquaculture industry that’s helping reduce livestock methane emissions, as IMAS Ecology and Biodiversity Deputy Centre Head and project lead, Associate Professor Jeff Wright explains. Asparagopsis is a small red seaweed that’s native to Tasmania. Sea Forest is the only Tasmanian […]
On 25th June 2022, our scientists were part of a joint FRDC, IMAS and CSIRO Salmon Science Open House held on the Hobart waterfront. This public ‘drop-in’ event was all about showcasing the science we do, and chatting with curious and passionate visitors about the science of monitoring, observing and modelling the effects of salmon […]
Researchers at IMAS and the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences have recently completed a research project developing a decision-support tool to aid spatial planning for finfish aquaculture in Tasmania. This project was a collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (now Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania) under […]
New research from Sharon Hook (CSIRO), Camille White and Jeff Ross (Salmon Interactions Team, IMAS) has highlighted the potential of using microbial gene expression as a tool for understanding more about how microscopic plants and animals which float in the water column (planktonic communities) are affected by finfish aquaculture. Finfish aquaculture releases nutrients, including nitrogen, into the surrounding water […]
Our team at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) has recently published a new report looking at the health of rocky reefs in the Derwent estuary. We used our new Rapid Visual Assessment methodology that has been developed to identify the early signs of organic enrichment on reef ecosystems. This project was initiated in 2019 when the Derwent Estuary Program (DEP) engaged our team to undertake a rocky […]
Our team at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) is currently involved in a large FRDC project (‘Storm Bay Observing System’) designed to assess the environmental performance of salmon aquaculture in Storm Bay. Through this project we are monitoring the interactions between salmon farms and the whole ecosystem, including soft sediment, inshore reefs, […]
The intensification of human activity in the lower D’Entrecasteaux Channel has led to increased concern regarding the effects of sustained low-level organic enrichment on the health and function of rocky reef ecosystems in this region. Our team at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) has been developing and trialing a “Rapid Visual Assessment” […]
Spatial data describes any geo-referenced data that contains information about its specific location, this can include environmental conditions (e.g. seabed type), human activities (e.g. recreational and commercial fishing) and socio-economic values. As such spatial data can be used to create decision-support tools that can assist planning for and assessment of primary industries operating in the […]
Studying soft-sediment communities is key to assessing the environmental impacts of salmon farms – and it’s helping salmon producers monitor and manage their operations for a sustainable industry, now and into the future. IMAS researchers are regularly out sampling sediments, which means there’s often a stockpile of post processing to do. It’s a huge undertaking […]
