News & events > News Releases Research for the Ocean State Scientists deploying instruments from the national research ship, Southern Surveyor, during the research voyage off the Western Australian coastline. Released: 18 February 2004 (by CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research) With 40% of Australia’s coastline, and some of the most economically important marine developments in the country, it is important for WA to have the information needed to manage and develop marine resources responsibly. The Leeuwin current is one of the major marine influences in Western Australia. The influences of the Leeuwin Current, on Western Australia’s unique marine ecosystems, have come under the spotlight in a series of successful research voyages by State and National research agencies. "There is no other ocean current in the world like the Leeuwin. It transports warm, unproductive water off the west coast of a continent. The Leeuwin flows in the opposite direction to similar currents off other continents," says CSIRO ecologist Dr Tony Koslow. "We are at the very beginning of understanding how it influences the food webs that support the lobster, salmon and pilchard fisheries, among many others, and how it supports the wealth of ocean life and rich economic return enjoyed off Western Australia." One element of a set of instruments enabling scientists to study daytime and night time cycles in which some species rises hundreds of metres at night to feed. Dr Koslow was Chief Investigator on the most recent research voyage on the national research ship, Southern Surveyor, which returned to Fremantle this week after eight days at sea. The voyage is one of four by Southern Surveyor to study the south west Australian marine ecosystem conducted under the Strategic Research Fund for the Marine Environment (SRFME). SRFME is a six-year, $20 million partnership between the West Australian Government and CSIRO in collaboration with West Australian universities. Dr Koslow said the work, sampling the ocean from shallow waters just a few kilometres off the coast north of Perth, across the continental shelf and out to depths of 1,000 metres over the continental slope, will provide a baseline against which future changes in the marine ecosystem can be measured. On board the 65-metre Southern Surveyor, scientists worked around-the-clock deploying an armoury of nets and other sampling instruments that enabled them to study daytime and night time cycles as well, in which some species rise hundreds of metres at night to feed. Click here to watch a net being deployed (Quicktime movie file 2.6MB) "The focus of our cruise is on understanding how the pelagic or midwater ecosystem varies from nearshore to offshore: differences in the food webs, their seasonal cycles and how climate cycles like El Nino affects it as well. "There’s a naturally-occurring balance in the waters off Western Australia that is governed by the Leeuwin, and how strongly it’s flowing, which is influenced in turn by climatic factors in other oceans such as El Nino. "Through measuring and observing ocean life, and combining this with satellite observations of the Leeuwin and local currents and eddies we can better understand the factors integral to sustaining the ocean food web. "The long-term goal of our study is to build a predictive capability for fisheries and coastal resource managers related to climate change in the ocean," Dr Koslow said. Australian science is building an ocean forecasting capacity through the research project, BlueLink (http://www.marine.csiro.au/bluelink/) With the marine environment being a significant contributor to the State’s economy the current scientific research will add to the knowledge base being generated through the collaborative SRFME research program. Dr Koslow said a key feature of the research partnership of this and related SRFME projects is the advanced education program training marine scientists. Scientists and technicians from CSIRO, and University of Western Australia, Curtin, and Murdoch participated in the voyage. For further information please contact: Dr Tony Koslow 08 9333 6520 Mr Don Michel 0419 314 434 Background What is SRFME? The Strategic Research Fund for the Marine Environment (SRFME) is a $20 million, six year joint venture between CSIRO and the Western Australian Government. The research fund aims to enhance the capability and capacity of marine science in areas of strategic interest to the WA government. SRFME will invest in a number of large integrated marine science projects to be conducted by CSIRO, in collaboration with state and federal agencies, and in PhD scholarship projects. Importantly the research funded by SRFME will be strategic as opposed to applied or tactical research aimed at a particular single industry or management objective (which is more appropriately funded by other sources). It will therefore serve the long-term needs of Western Australia across a range of user groups from fisheries to ecosystem management. The State Government Agencies involved in SRFME are: the Department of the Premier and Cabinet; Department of Conservation and Land Management; Department of Fisheries WA; Department of Environment, Water & Catchment Protection and the Department of Industry and Resources. For more information on SRFME, please contact the Research Director, Dr John Keesing on (08) 9222 8887 at Office of Science and Innovation, Depart. of the Premier & Cabinet, Level 2, 197 St George's Terrace Perth WA 6000. About the Project Western Australia is arguably the region most sensitive to climate variability in Australia. The strength of the Leeuwin Current and Indonesian throughflow, and major regional fisheries (e.g. western rock lobster, pilchard and scallops) all respond strongly to the El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle. However, present understanding is rudimentary of the region’s biological oceanography, the presumed link between ocean forcing and the fisheries. The seasonal cycles of biological productivity on the continental shelf and slope, and the spatial distribution of production regimes still remain largely unknown. Much less is known about interannual variability and the factors driving such variation. Management of marine resources and habitats requires that scientists distinguish the effects of natural climate variability and climate change from anthropogenic effects. The aim of the project is to examine how climate forcing influences nutrient, phytoplankton, zooplankton and micronekton dynamics across the shelf with application to fisheries, management of marine protected areas and coastal processes. This project is closely linked with the modelling and coastal projects. It is strategic and will provide a quantitative understanding of biophysical dynamics across the continental shelf. During the second half of the project, proposals will be made in collaboration with WA partners to apply our emerging understanding to specific issues in fisheries and/or the management of MPAs and the coastal zone. More about Project 2: The biophysical oceanography off Western Australia About the Leeuwin Current Australia is influenced by four major ocean currents – The Leeuwin Current The East Australian Current – southward flowing from near Fraser Island to Tasmania The Indonesian Throughflow – a system of westward flowing currents from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean The Antarctic Circumpolar Current – the world’s largest ocean current and considered the powerhouse for global climate. The Leeuwin Current takes an opposite course to geographically-similar currents which flow northward up the African (Benguela) and South American (Humboldt) continents. Partly formed from the system of currents draining the Pacific Ocean into the Indian Ocean through Indonesia, its characteristics are detectable throughout the course of its long winter journey. The journey is governed by seasonal conditions and prevailing winds, with the Current generally following the edge of the continental shelf. The southward flow of the Leeuwin is weakest from November to March when the winds tend to blow strongly northwards and reaches greatest flow is in the autumn and winter when the opposing winds are weakest. In the Indian Ocean, typical current speeds in the Leeuwin Current and its eddies measured are about 1 knot although speeds of 2 knots are common, and the highest speed ever recorded by a drifting satellite-tracked buoy was 3.5 knots. The Leeuwin Current is about 300 m deep (quite shallow for a major current system, by global standards), and beneath it is a northwards countercurrent called the Leeuwin Undercurrent. [back]

 

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research | Department of Premier and Cabinet| Department of Conservation & Land Management | Department of Fisheries WA| Department of Environment | Department of Industry & Resources SRFME is a joint venture between the Western Australian State Government and CSIRO