ROTTNEST ISLAND

Rottnest Island is located 19km from the Western Australian mainland, and is a popular family holiday location. One of the main drawcards of the island is the diverse marine life inhabiting the surounding waters, which Western Australian locals and tourists can experience by snorkelling, diving, boating and fishing.

The marine environment around Rottnest includes seagrass meadows, kelp-covered reef tops, coral patches, and sponge gardens in deeper water. As a result of the warm, southward flowing Leeuwin Current, the island represents the southern limit of the distributions of many tropical corals and fish. Marine life around Rottnest therefore represents a unique mix of tropical and temperate species and habitats.

The Marine Futures project will sample waters surrounding the island and to the west of the island, between approximately 15 and 120m depth.

UPDATE

Just over 250 square kilometres of hydro-acoustic mapping has now been completed at the Rottnest site. In addition, over 35 hours of towed video has also been completed and analysed, uncovering the mysteries of the deeper waters on our back doorstep - including uncharted shipwrecks! Using the above two datasets, the habitat mapping team have now developed full coverage habitat maps for the site. The maps outline the areas covered by some key biotic 'groups' of organisms such as sessile invertebrates, macroalgae, rhodoliths (see example clip right) and seagrasses.

Following on from the development of the habitat maps, the team have now completed over 200 baited camera drops and collected over 1500 images of the seafloor!

Please see the data downloading website (www.marinefutures.info) for the finished outputs from this study location. In addition to the Mapping, Biodiversity and Human Use team reports for the whole project, each location also has a selection of google earth maps, educational underwater clips and easy-to-use interactive excel charts which combine the spatial and biodiversity information.

Reef habitat covered with Macroalgae at Rottnest.

Interesting Footage Clips from the towed video:

• Rhodoliths