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Minister for Science and the Environment

Parliament House, Canberra A.C.T. 2600 Telephone 726050

MEDIA RELEASE 80-009

14 March 1980

MARINE SCIENCE RESEARCH GRANTS

Grants totalling $394,234 have been approved for 24 projects   involving marine research on the Great Barrier Reef, and in   Bass Strait, South Australia and the North West Shelf.

The Minister for Science and the Environment, Mr. David Thomson   announced this today following recommendations by the Funding   Advisory Panel of the Australian Marine Sciences and Technologies   Advisory Committee. ‘

The grants will fund 15 Great Barrier Reef and 9 non-Reef research   projects. They were made from 152 applications. Funding has gone   to universities, museums, the Queensland Fisheries Service,  CSIRO and other research institutions.

Mr. Thomson said the aim of much of the Great Barrier Reef research   was to promote understanding of the Reef's delicately balanced Ã¢ÂÂ    ecosystem.

The work would include examinations of the history and evolution,   the biological communities of importance, and ocean circulation   and pollutants.

The results should assist the development and management of marine   parks in the Reef area by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

These projects are only a beginning of necessary long-term studies   on the Reef, recommended by the Advisory Panel.

The work will be in addition to studies already being undertaken .   by the Australian Institute of Marine Science and other research   bodies.

"Great Barrier Reef projects were given first priority in this   year's grants," Mr. Thomson said.

"A modest beginning has been made in the funding of wave and water   circulation research in Bass Strait and some biological studies in   South East Australia.

"The limits of the North West Shelf are being examined in a   situation which has both resource and political implications."

Further information: S h i rley Dryden,  (062) 83 2542

(A list of the grants is attached)

MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

AUSTRALIAN’ MARINE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES ADVISORY  FUNDING ADVISORY PANEL (AMSTAC-FAPT COMMITTEE -

NON-REEF PROJECTS

Investigator .  Project Title

Dr J. Bauld and Ms L. Chambers

CSIRO ,

Dr A.F. Bennett  Monash University

Dr C.B. Fandry  CSIRO

Production and fate of organic carbon in benthic  marine cyanobacterial mats

Open boundary data for Bass Strait

Mathematical model of water circulation in Base  Strait

Dr J.B. Hinwood,-Dr D.R. Blackman  and Dr G. Lleonart  Monash University

Wave prediction in the Squthern Ocean and Bass  Strait .

Dr G.T. Kraft and Dr R. Wetherbee  University of Melbourne The taxonomy, distribution and phylogeny of marine  algae from Eastern Australian islands and the

Great Barrier' Reef

Dr A.D. McEwan *  Bass Strait dropsonde study

CSIRO *

Dynamics of an offshore community of invertebrates  living on soft sediments

Associate Professor J.J. Veevers .  The extent of continental North West Australia and Dr B.D. Johnson Â·  Ã¢ÂÂ   Â·  Â·  Â·

Macquarie University .  .

Dr J.R. Ottaway  Flinders University,

Amount

14 224

"8 000

5 000

8 380

17 613

18 729

3 900

13 651

Professor H.B.S. Womersley  University of Adelaide The phenology and productivity of three dominant  southern Australian Phaeophyta in Gulf St Vincent 3 456

2

GREAT BARRIER REEF PROJECTS

Investigator

D r  L.R.G. Cannon and Dr G.B. Goeden

Queensland Museum

D r  A;R.. C h i v a s , Mr P. Aharon and D r  J.M. Chappell Australian National University

Dr  D.W. Connell and Mr G. J . '  Miller Â·   Griffith University

Pro.ject Title .  .  Amount

Preliminary biological mapping of the inter-reef  regions of the Great Barrier Reef using bottom Â·  .

dwelling fishes and large invertebrates 13 200

Stable isotope study of palaeoclimate and environ- .   mental geochemistry of the Great Barrier Reef 20 648

Study of background concentrations of existing hydrocarbon  levels in the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem1  to '

establish baseline data on pollution 25 065

D r  P.J. Davies. .  Factors affecting growth and maintenance of reefs .

Bureau of Mineral Resources in the central Great Barrier Reef .  3 0  000

D r  E. Frankel and Dr  P. Hutchings Bioerosion Of coral substrate

Australian Museum .

Dr  R.F. Hartwick and Dr N.E. Milward  James Cook University of iforth .   Queensland Â·

Associate Professor D. Hopley  James Cook University of North  Queensland Â·

Ecology and migratory pathways of the larvae of  commercially important fish and decapod species  in the Continental Shelf Zone of the Great Barrier  Reef Â·  .

1Â»

Geomorphology of the central Great Barrier Reef -  evolution, present processes and mapping of remote  sensing .

D r  D.L.B. Jupp

CSXRO .

Remote sensing by LANDSAT as support for management  of the Great Barrier Reef

Professor K.C. Marshall  University of New South Wales Sorption of bacteria to coral reef sediment  particulates .

D r  J.H.F. Middleton Ocean dynamics of the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon

^University of New South Wales Â· .  1  Ã¢ÂÂ

Â·) Â· Â·  Â· .  '  Â· . .

x i  . Â·' .* . Â· . Ã¢ÂÂ  . Â· ' Â·

15 968

21 420

21 427

26 616

8 749

14 622

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ Â· ./3

Amount Investigator

Associate Professor M. Pichon  James Cook University of North  Queensland

Professor K.P. Stark and  Dr R,J, Sobey .

James Cook University of North  Queensland

D r ,R .E . Summons and  Professor C.B. Osmond  Australian National University

Professor H. Talbot and  Dr B. Goldman

Macquarie University

Dr M.L. Heron James Cook University of North  Queensland

Project Title

"  $

The determinants of coral reef community structure : Dynamics of communities dominated by the genus Acropora 20 894

Hydrodynamic studies -of water movements within the Barrier Reef Region 31 657

Biochemical ecology of algal-invertebrate associations of the Great Barrier Reef 20 393

Behaviour, age and growth determinations of larval coral reef fishes * .  5 622

Surface current mapping by coastal ocean surface radar 25 000

The grant to Dr Heron provides for a commitment  of $18 498 against the funds to be appropriated  in 1980/81.

