Visitors and residents along Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef can play a starring role as citizen scientists to build a brighter future for ‘Nemo’ clownfish and their anemone homes.
The IC-ANEMONE (or ‘I See Anemone’) app launch for (13-21 August) invites holiday-seekers and Queenslanders to get involved in Saving Nemo by recording sightings in the wild via a new mobile phone app.
This monitoring will help marine biologists from The University of Queensland and to expand their conservation efforts.
PhD candidate and Saving Nemo Queensland Project Coordinator Carmen da Silva said she couldn’t wait to show reef visitors how to use the app and get involved.
“This is a really exciting way to gain an understanding of the numbers and the health of anemones and clown fish in the region,” she said.
“If we can get more people excited about reef conservation, hopefully more people will want to help save the reef.”
Her mother, and program director Karen Burke da Silva, is also Associate Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation at Flinders University in South Australia.
“We know that numbers are declining at some coral reefs both in Australia and overseas,” she says.
“We would love citizen scientists to use the new and learn how they can identify species while snorkelling and diving during their holiday.
“The information collected will be combined with other publicly available data, such as weather and collection statistics, to build a better understanding for clownfish conservation.”
Data collected with the app will enable scientists to monitor density, diversity, health and interspecies relationships of clownfish and anemones in protected and exploited sites across the Great Barrier Reef.
From 13 August, scientists from both universities will demonstrate the new app at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority’s Reef HQ Aquarium in Townsville, Cairns and Lizard Island. Times are listed below.
IC-ANEMONE will help to create the first global database to better understand where clownfish and anemones occur and what threatens their survival in the wild.
Climate change, anemone bleaching, land use practices and over-collection are all potential threats to the species’ survival now and into the future, Associate Professor Burke da Silva says.
Up-to-date visualisations of data, for example maps of where particular clownfish are most frequently reported, will be available for people to compare their sightings to others in their region and beyond.
Using Australia as a baseline, the program will be expanded to include other popular tourism and high vulnerability in Southeast Asia where sustainable fishing practises have not been well enforced resulting in local extinctions.
The National Science Week initiative borrows from the conservation theme of the Disney movies Finding Nemo and sequel Finding Dory, urging the aquaria trade and pet owners to leave wild fish on coral reefs and protect marine sanctuaries from destructive exploitation.
For more information, please go to http://www.savingnemo.org/ or follow on Twitter @savenemo.
This Inspiring Australia initiative is supported by the Australian Government as part of National Science Week.
Photo and vision opportunities, media welcome:
Friday 12 August: 2pm-3pm visit to clownfish breeding facility, 43 Potts Street, Belgian Gardens State School, Belgian Gardens, Townsville.
Saturday 13 August: 3pm-5pm ReefHQ engaging public with IC-ANEMONE app, Flinders Street, ReefHQ Aquarium, Townsville.
Sunday 14 August: 8:30am-11:30am engaging public with IC-ANEMONE app at Sealink Ferry Terminal, Townsville
Tuesday 16 August: 9am-12noon engaging public with IC-ANEMONE app at Ports North Reef Terminal, Cairns
Wednesday 17 August: 9am-12noon engaging public with IC-ANEMONE app at Ports North Reef Terminal, Cairns
Thursday 18 August to Sunday August 21 August: Snorkelling tours at Lizard Island Resort (Times by appointment).
Media: Carmen da Silva, carmen.dasilva@uq.net.au, +61 430 328 597; 国产探花 Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 0561; Karen Burke da Silva
IC-ANEMONE Program Director, Flinders University, Further information +61 8 8201 2010, +61 400 253 644; karen.burkedasilva@flinders.edu.au; Tania Bawden, Flinders University Communication, +61 8 8201 5768, +61 407 979 406, tania.bawden@flinders.edu.au
