Today NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), in collaboration with University of Western Australia (UWA) and Flinders University, has launched a new marine restoration tool to help marine managers and stakeholders adapt to a changing ocean.
NSW DPIRD Senior Principal Research Scientist Dr Melinda Coleman said the ‘Reef Adapt’ online webtool will help guide marine restoration and assisted adaptation programs now and into the future.
“With ocean temperatures expected to continue to rise over the coming decades, solutions to help marine life adapt to these changing conditions are urgently needed,” Dr Coleman said.
“The revolutionary new Reef Adapt tool will use cutting-edge genomic data and seascape analyses to help marine managers, restoration practitioners and other stakeholders including aquaculture make informed decisions about where to source stock for restoration or aquaculture as well as help select climate proof stock that will withstand future ocean conditions.
“We hope that this webtool will be used broadly across marine and conservation managers, community groups or anyone embarking on marine restoration as well as aquaculture proponents”.
Dr Coleman continued by saying this tool is not just for use in NSW, it can be used globally and covers many different marine species, such as seaweeds and corals and will be expanded as new data becomes available.
“Underpinned by relationships between genetic data and ocean environmental conditions, the webtool uses easy to interpret maps to indicate where resilient populations of species are located, which will help improve the outcomes of marine based projects under climate change,” Dr Coleman said.
“NSW DPIRD research scientists will continue to work with partner agencies and collaborators to ensure the tool is rolled out and used broadly amongst stakeholders.”
The Reef Adapt webtool is co-funded by the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy through an ARC Linkage grant and Industry Fellowship.
