The University of Western Australia has a sea of research programs focused on the ocean.

With WA being home to 40 per cent of Australia’s coastline, about 13,000 kilometres, it is a field of growing importance.

The University has launched the Oceans Institute to bring all of the marine research programs together, including oceanography, ecology, engineering and resource management.

UWA’s vice chancellor Alan Robson says he has unsuccessfully attempted to put all the marine sciences together three times.

He hopes this attempt will succeed where the others did not, by putting them together in one building.

The research

The acting director of the Institute Professor Gary Kendrick says the body will co-ordinate the prodigious amount of research that is already underway at the campus.

That research spans climate change, subsea pipeline and rig foundation systems technology for the North-West Shelf, tides, winds and ocean currents, marine biodiversity and the management and conservation of the ocean.

The Institute is housed with the Australian Institute of Marine Science and together they will look at five threats to marine diversity: climate change, resource use, land-based impacts, biosecurity and pollution.

More than 80 staff and post graduate students will be involved with the centre.

Among them are WA Premier’s Fellows Professor Shaun Collin and Professor Malcolm McCulloch.

Professor McCulloch is a world expert in ocean acidification and coral reefs.

Professor Collin’s field is fish neurobiology, looking at how fish and sharks sense their environment.

“For years a group of us been assessing biodiversity off the coast of WA,” he said.

“We’re building up a picture of what the sea bottom looks like and what organisms are found there and where they are found.”

“What the Ocean’s Institute is doing is focusing that research into disciplinary teams,” he said.

“We’re also very much trying to coordinate that research with national research providers like the the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the CSIRO as well as other universities nationally and internationally and to do that effectively we need to actually have a focal point and that’s where the institute comes in.”

Information hub

Professor Kendrick says the institute will be the face of UWA’s research, for others to use.

“We expect both State and Federal government to seek knowledge and information from us about the very fast development in the North-West around the gas hubs and of course the accident, oil and gas spill at Montarra,” he said.

“We also hope that the government see the Oceans Institute as a place where they can stop and ask questions about our research.”

The Institute is yet to set up a board, which will include industry, government and community members.

Ocean conservation

Much of the research will focus on ocean ecology and environmental protection.

“What we’re seeing is a dramatic increase in the utilisation of our coastal waters. Around Perth for instance we’re looking at a 75 per cent increase in the number of recreational boats by 2025,” Professor Kendrick said.

“Western Australia is a global biodiversity hotspot,” he said.

“What that means is we also have a responsibility as stewards of the West Australian marine environment to look after it to make sure that biodiversity is available to future generations to enjoy.”

He says it is time everyone took responsibility for the health of the oceans.

“If we do not make a management decision to at least conserve that environment now, then we could miss the chance of actually keeping what we enjoy about the West Australian environment alive for our children and our children’s children.

“And also for the lifestyle that we live right now, which is one of incredible freedom compared to other areas of the world, an incredible freedom to go out and enjoy the catch and eat the marine resources.”

The University of Western Australia has a sea of research programs focused on the ocean.

With WA being home to 40 per cent of Australia’s coastline, about 13,000 kilometres, it is a field of growing importance.

The University has launched the Oceans Institute to bring all of the marine research programs together, including oceanography, ecology, engineering and resource management.

UWA’s vice chancellor Alan Robson says he has unsuccessfully attempted to put all the marine sciences together three times.

He hopes this attempt will succeed where the others did not, by putting them together in one building.

The research

The acting director of the Institute Professor Gary Kendrick says the body will co-ordinate the prodigious amount of research that is already underway at the campus.

That research spans climate change, subsea pipeline and rig foundation systems technology for the North-West Shelf, tides, winds and ocean currents, marine biodiversity and the management and conservation of the ocean.

The Institute is housed with the Australian Institute of Marine Science and together they will look at five threats to marine diversity: climate change, resource use, land-based impacts, biosecurity and pollution.

More than 80 staff and post graduate students will be involved with the centre.

Among them are WA Premier’s Fellows Professor Shaun Collin and Professor Malcolm McCulloch.

Professor McCulloch is a world expert in ocean acidification and coral reefs.

Professor Collin’s field is fish neurobiology, looking at how fish and sharks sense their environment.

“For years a group of us been assessing biodiversity off the coast of WA,” he said.

“We’re building up a picture of what the sea bottom looks like and what organisms are found there and where they are found.”

“What the Ocean’s Institute is doing is focusing that research into disciplinary teams,” he said.

“We’re also very much trying to coordinate that research with national research providers like the the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the CSIRO as well as other universities nationally and internationally and to do that effectively we need to actually have a focal point and that’s where the institute comes in.”

Information hub

Professor Kendrick says the institute will be the face of UWA’s research, for others to use.

“We expect both State and Federal government to seek knowledge and information from us about the very fast development in the North-West around the gas hubs and of course the accident, oil and gas spill at Montarra,” he said.

“We also hope that the government see the Oceans Institute as a place where they can stop and ask questions about our research.”

The Institute is yet to set up a board, which will include industry, government and community members.

Ocean conservation

Much of the research will focus on ocean ecology and environmental protection.

“What we’re seeing is a dramatic increase in the utilisation of our coastal waters. Around Perth for instance we’re looking at a 75 per cent increase in the number of recreational boats by 2025,” Professor Kendrick said.

“Western Australia is a global biodiversity hotspot,” he said.

“What that means is we also have a responsibility as stewards of the West Australian marine environment to look after it to make sure that biodiversity is available to future generations to enjoy.”

He says it is time everyone took responsibility for the health of the oceans.

“If we do not make a management decision to at least conserve that environment now, then we could miss the chance of actually keeping what we enjoy about the West Australian environment alive for our children and our children’s children.

“And also for the lifestyle that we live right now, which is one of incredible freedom compared to other areas of the world, an incredible freedom to go out and enjoy the catch and eat the marine resources.”