WAMSI Board meeting in Abrolhos
May 2010
The Western Australian Marine Science Institution Board held its May 2010 meeting in the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago off WA’s Mid West coast.
Situated 60 kilometres west of Geraldton, the chain of islands is clustered into three main groups – Wallabi, Easter and Pelsaert - and spread from north to south across 100 kilometres of ocean.
The eight board members stayed in the Saville-Kent Centre on Rat Island. The centre runs on solar energy with minimal use of the diesel generator to power its refrigerators and freezers. It has large windows to maximise the amount of light entering the building and a breezeway running down the centre to replace air conditioning.
Winter sun and summer shade are captured because the facility runs from east to west. Fresh water comes from a 27,000 litre desalination unit and the toilets are no-water compost units.
The Board met local fishermen on the neighbouring Little Rat Island during their overnight stay.
The island reefs are a meeting place for tropical and temperate sea life and form one of the State's unique marine areas.
The 122 islands that make up the Abrolhos are in pristine waters which have rich marine and wildlife biodiversity, historic shipwrecks and are one of the principle locations of the western rock lobster industry.
Many WAMSI research projects are taking place in the region. They cover sustainable fisheries, sustainable ecosystems, the effect of climate change on the Leeuwin Current and the western rock lobster industry, fish distribution, current and predicted fish populations and food chains.
Pictured are (from left) Jamie Oliver (Australian Institute of Marine Science), John Finlay-Jones (Edith Cowan University), Tom Hatton (CSIRO), Rick Fletcher (Department of Fisheries and WAMSI’s sustainable fisheries research leader), Keiran McNamara (Department of Environment and Conservation), Peter McCafferty (ChemCentre WA), Linda McGowan (WAMSI), Peter Rogers (WAMSI Board Chair), Di Walker (WA Museum), Stuart Smith (Department of Fisheries) and Steve Blake (WAMSI CEO).
For more information about the Abrolhos visit http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/AbrolhosVisiting/index.php?0502