News
HIMI Voyage V2 departs Hobart
25 November 2025
Becky has departed Hobart onboard the RV Nuyina and is heading towards Heard Island, via Antarctica. Onboard there are scientists that will be studying everything from ice, to seals, to fish, to seabed mapping, all the with the aim of better understanding Australia’s most remote territory.
See the press release!
Welcome Tarn Hingston!
20 November 2025
Having recently completed Honours studying kelp, Tarn Hingston has joined the team to help Nicole and Jan process and annotate Antarctic seafloor imagery. Tarn is also a Great Southern Reef enthusiast! Check out some of the amazing shots!
Global Change Biology Article Hot off the press!
19 October 2025
A new paper published by the team in Global Change Biology investigates how the demersal fish assemblage of the Heard Island and McDonald Island region has changed over a two decade period. Using a contemporary joint species distribution modelling approach, the team found that many species of fish had increased in prevalence and abundance over the study period. Most notably the predicted species richness more than doubled over the period. While it is difficult to establish the causal mechanism for this increase, the team suggest it is likely a combination of changes to fishing gear used, fisheries management, removal of IUU fishing, and climate change. These findings are being used by the AAD, AFMA, CCAMLR, and the fishing industry to continually improve management to ensure sustainable Southern Ocean fisheries. The team also wrote a complimentary The Conversation article to promote the research.
Antarctic seas host a surprising mix of lifeforms – and now we can map them!
6 August 2018
What sort of life do you associate with Antarctica? Penguins? Seals? Whales?
Actually, life in Antarctic waters is much broader than this, and surprisingly diverse. Hidden under the cover of sea-ice for most of the year, and living in cold water near the seafloor, are thousands of unique and colourful species.
Check out our The Conversation article.
