Great Victorian Fish Count: finding fish on the run from climate change

Saturday, 5 December, 2009

Media release

Volunteer divers will today suit up and plunge into Victoria's marine waters to explore kelp forests, seagrass meadows and sponge gardens as part of the annual Great Victorian Fish Count.

Held every year since 2005, the volunteer-based Great Victorian Fish Count is part of a program that is revealing a changing marine world in which species are moving further south as a result of rising ocean temperatures under climate change.
"Last year the Reef Watch program revealed the presence of a new species in Port Phillip Bay, the Yellow-finned Leatherjacket, indicating species are on the move," the Victorian National Parks Association's Reef Watch co-ordinator Wendy Roberts said today.
"While individual divers cannot by themselves protect marine life from the increasing acidity of our oceans and other likely impacts of climate change, they can help us track changes that would otherwise go unnoticed."

Ms Roberts said considerable changes are taking place in Victoria's marine environment but few monitoring programs are capable of tracking such changes.

"Climate change is predicted to significantly alter Victoria's seas, increasing ocean acidity and changing ocean temperatures," she said.

"Divers taking part in the Great Victorian Fish Count are contributing to a long-term project of great significance when it comes to understanding changes in marine biodiversity."

Ms Roberts said Victorian waters contain a large number of fish and marine plant species found nowhere else in the world.

"People that stick their head under the water for the first time are likely to be surprised by the marine life they find," she said.

"Divers will see amazing fish such as Wrasses, which are born as female fish but as they grow older the largest change colour and turn into male Wrasses. They might also spot Banded and Magpie Morwongs, which can live on the same reef for up to 20 years.

"These amazing fish and the marine world they depend on are experiencing significant pressures, including commercial and recreational fishing, pollution and dredging. Climate change is compounding these pressures.

"If we want to ensure our strange and colourful marine life can survive climate change we need to urgently increase marine scientific research, improved protection and management of the increasing number of threats."

For comment contact Wendy Roberts, 0438 776 607, emailwroberts@museum.vic.gov.au.

Reef Watch website
Marine and coastal issues