Remote Cape Howe on the Ocean Front Line for Climate Change

Together with the scientists from Parks Victoria, our lab head Daniel Ierodiaconou are in THE AGE.

Cape Howe has some of the highest fish diversity of any part of Victorian waters.Image from The Age.

At the windswept eastern tip of Victoria lies a remote marine wilderness on the front line of climate change and the warming of the Australia’s oceans. About 20 kilometres from Mallacoota, Cape Howe Marine National Park interests scientists because of its proximity to the powerful East Australian Current, which travels down the eastern coast of Australia.

Despite the increased presence of urchins, Cape Howe is still incredibly diverse and rich in its fish species, says Daniel Ierodiaconou, an associate professor of marine science at Deakin University. Speaking by phone on a ship returning from a Norfolk Island fish survey trip, Associate Professor Ierodiaconou said the fish diversity surveys were part of a national and global effort to use video technology under water to document diversity. “Often, it’s baseline information that we’re capturing for the very first time.”

To read the full interview, click here.