Expert Details
What effect is human pollution having on fish? Ask a world class marine ecologist your ‘fishy’ questions.
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Name: Prof. David Booth |
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Description:
| David Booth is a Professor of Marine Ecology at UTS, and world renowned authority in the field. He is an expert in coral reef fish ecology and is especially interested in the effect of man-made pollutants on fish. Recently, he has turned his attention to the role of marine protected areas in enhancing biodiversity and sustainable fisheries opportunities, including development of the National Statement on Marine Protected Areas by the Australian Marine Sciences Association and the Australian Coral Reef Society. Booth is also Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Sydney Harbour Institute of Marine Sciences (see www.shims.org.au). He currently collaborates with the NSW Department of Primary Industry, NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, UTS Microstructural Analysis Unit, Oregon State University, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of the Virgin Islands. Australian Marine Sciences Association https://www.amsa.asn.au/ |
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Read more about David and his current projects
Read about David’s current study of deep sea biology
| Questions and Answers |
Questions Posted by: Mark Casswell |
| Qn: What advice have you on leveraging off our unique ecotone as in southern extent of the GBR and Northern extent of some Southern marine species? Ans: An excellent question! From the marine perspective, SE Australia is a focus for species transitions, climate change effects, and changing socioeconomic impacts, such as fishery changes. The East Australian Current brings huge amounts of warm water with tropical taxa (mainly larvae but also adults such as mahi mahi and other popular fish) down from the north, and the EAC is poised to be massively altered thru climate change. My own research has shown that over 50 coral reef fish species make it to southern NSW and that changes to local water temperatures, especially over winter, have increased persistence of these species southward. Sydney Harbour, for instance, despite being highly urbanised, has over 550 recorded marine species, up to 20% tropical vagrants, and this outstrips the whole New Zealand coast (about 300 species) and Great Britain (under 200 species of marine fish). The SE Australian "transition zone)" and EAC are major foci of the new Sydney institute of Marine Science (www.sims.org.au) |
Questions Posted by: Dave Thomas |
| Qn: what marine animal[s] do you think [which aren't protected now] need protection ? Ans: Many thanks for your question. Few marine animals are fully protected, and even this is in practical terms fairly ineffective. the White shark for instance, while officially protected Australia-wide, is well known to be subjected to illegal disturbances. The sorts of animals that are particularly vulnerable ecologically are: slow growers, late maturers, of special interest (eg food fishes, crayfish, medicine animals etc), low batch fecundity (# babies per spawn or per year), migrators (eg to outside Australia's jurisdiction). Animal groups that fit in these categories inc. some fish specie s(sharks, syngnathids, groupers etc.) and invertebrates (some cuttlefish, probably others). Importantly, however, I don't think conservation based on single species is the only way to go. We need ecosystem and habitat protection. this can take the form of permanent closures (eg within marine parks), and all the fishery management tools (eg bag limits, size limits) but also halting water pollution, dredging etc. |
Questions Posted by: Elizabeth |
Qn: What studies have been done regarding the localised and wider effect of putting brine from desalination plants back into the ocean? Ans: Hi Elizabeth, Desal plants usually employ the reverse osmosis method which generates a hypersaline solution (30-70% more salty than seawater) which is usually discharged back into the sea. This brine may also have a suite of chemicals including free chlorine, iron of aluminium chlorides (for disinfecting or antifouling pipes), HCl, copper sulphate (flushing pipes), glycerine (preserve RO membranes) and metals etc. (concentrated in the desal process), as well as increased turbidity (cloudiness). Effects on marine ecosystems will depend not only on concentrations of the above cocktail, but also on the way in which the plume disperses (volume output, local oceanography, etc.). Local (100's of meter) effects are more likely. While more study is required, studies that indicate impacts have included reductions in fish and plankton populations, coral deaths, mangrove and seagrass mortalities and sediment copper and nickel buildup (Mabrook 1994, Vries et al 1997, Chester 1975). Given larval and juvenile fishes are more sensitive to metals and other toxins, effects on seagrass and mangrove nurseries, if outlets were near these, may be significant. In contrast, several studies have shown no detectable effect of desal brine outputs on seagrass meadows and invertebrate communities (starfish,, hermit crabs etc.; Perez-Talavera et al 2001, Raventoc et al. 2006). The huge natural variability over time and space of shallow marine communities makes it difficult to determine deleterious effects unless they are quite marked, so new, well-designed studies will be required to monitor desal plant impacts. |