From Air and Sea

10/12/2021

One of my favorite trips so far to help control the COTS populations on some familiar and frequently visited areas in the Southern GBR. This trip we mostly stayed in the Capricorn Bunker group and were blessed with insane vis (30+ meters) at Lady Musgrave - also known as Wallanginji or “beautiful reef” by the Gureng Gureng people.

I also finally got to visit the legendary Lady Elliot where got this insane video of a beautiful white-spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus ocellatus). These moments among supremely healthy reefs are always an inspiring reminder to what nature can offer is when we safeguard, protect and respect the life that arises from the ocean. It is in the collective perspective that we can witness the magic of all our lives colliding together to create unforgettable experiences and memories for our short time on this planet.

I hope you all can find some humble gratitude this holiday season, as it can bring up not so great memories for many of us. Never doubt your ability to fly like this amazing creature ✨

16/04/2021

Check this out 🦈🐟🌊

There’s obviously been lots of debate about the new “documentary” . my amazing here at Bebegu Yumba campus (Gurruumbilbarra and Thul Garrie Waja Country) wrote up a fantastic blog piece encompassing 13 fact checks and 5 suggestions.

By examining the science and messages of the film we hope to provide some suggestions on what Australian consumers can do to help the oceans and contribute to .

Link in bio. Please share!

09/01/2021

Can’t believe we were able to catch TWO giant shovel nose rays on ’s last PhD research trip to ! We typically came upon them at high tide in the sandy shallows - further from mangroves than the juvenile blacktips we came upon. They’re coloration actually makes them super difficult to see even in the clear waters of Orpheus Island! We though we would have to be super stealth and use a , but we were actually able to hook these on lines. Despite not having any previous fishing experience, all of us were able to catch several sharks and even a couple of rays like this one and a huge pink whip ray. Super stoked for what the future data will reveal about their movements!

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17/12/2020

A successful 10 days catching and tagging elasmobranchs for ’s PhD research looking to investigate how these amazing creatures may be using the surrounding ecosystem at . Can’t wait to see what insights come from her data!

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10/12/2020

Pictured: a 50-year old largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) rostrum from a likely 3 meter long individual courtesy of Mick Grant’s work in PNG.

Finished my last course (ever?) last week learning about managing tropical fisheries. The complex considerations in small and large scale require tons of work, understanding values and beliefs of the stakeholders you work with, and doing the best that you can with what you are given.

Special thank you to for being a fantastic course coordinator bringing in a commercial fishermen, GBRMPA fisheries manager Darren Cameron, biologists and conservation researchers Mick Grant and , WorldFish gender specialist Dr. Jacquie Lau and fisheries scientist Dr. David Mills, and anthropologists Dr. Simon Foale. And thank you to all the other students who made the course so much richer by sharing their experiences and insights. Couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the semester 🙏🏽✨

24/10/2020

What if when you wake up from this dream
they ask you:
"how was heaven?"

Audio (C): Burgs - Mt. Wolf

23/10/2020

"...there’s something fundamentally flawed about a system that has a prime directive to churn nature and humans into capital, and do it more and more each year, regardless of the costs to human well-being and to the environment we depend on."

Anyone who seeks to promote social and environmental justice must be willing to recognize that the capitalist system our society is based upon is the root cause of every major issue our planet faces from local to global levels.

It's time for a revolutionary change. But that requires knowledge. I encourage you all to read Jason Hickel's evidenced-based arguments that is accessible via his free blog.

https://www.jasonhickel.org/climate-and-ecology

https://www.fastcompany.com/40439316/are-you-ready-to-consider-that-capitalism-is-the-real-problem

Before you say no, take a moment to really ask yourself whether it’s the system that’s best suited to build our future society.

14/10/2020

super grateful to be helping with her field work the past 10 days!! Marine biology is not all the glamour you might assume... but the satisfaction of laying out a beautiful set of acoustic receivers to pick up shark and ray tags is beyond satisfying. Grateful to be a part of this experience!

07/10/2020

Australia still has much to do in healing the pain it has caused to the Aboriginal and Torrest Strait Islander peoples.

This is the Uluru Statement From the Heart. It requests
1. Process of truth telling of history of Australia
2. Process of coming up with treaties between First Nations and settler-colonialists
3. First Nation's Voice to Parliament

"We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country."