Media Release

'Big Bruv' helps biologists keep watch on Barrier Reef

Australian Institute of Marine Science researchers have launched a fleet of Baited Remote Underwater Videos (BRUVS) to help them identify and count fish on the Great Barrier Reef at depths to 100 metres.

Like traps, the BRUVS are baited with minced pilchards and deployed in a string of six. The cameras record for up to three hours and are retrieved with a pot hauler. 

"Already the range of fish, sharks, rays, sea snakes and other animals sighted on tape has been remarkable - more than 300 species to date," said Mike Cappo, leader of the AIMS team mapping habitats and biodiversity resources. 

"From three-centimetre leatherjackets to three-metre hammerhead sharks, the videos record all aspects of biodiversity present in previously unknown habitats."

Some fish vigorously attack the bait canisters and create berley that attracts larger species such as sharks. This makes for spectacular footage.

The use of video technology in marine research frees scientists from depth constraints associated with SCUBA, and provides a better picture of sensitive habitats and intricately linked ecosystems. Scientists can collect data at a range of depths, 24 hours a day, in situations dangerous to divers.

"The image quality of underwater television and video has increased to such an extent that underwater video is becoming an integral tool of marine research," Mr Cappo said.

The BRUVS not only provide a non-intrusive and non-destructive means of surveying fish, they also give scientists a clearer view of life under the sea. The camera lens picks up detail in the underwater landscape that escapes the human eye.
For example, a charted shoal on the edge of the continental shelf out from Townsville has turned out to be a huge mound of dead Halimeda algae, overlain with living plants and inhabited by a plethora of fish, including rosy jobfish, red emperor and iodine bream.

Also, scientists have found that an area off Cape Bowling Green teeming with juvenile red emperor has a bare seafloor pock-marked with large craters of unknown origin. Why the "reds" congregate on these gravelly grounds, featuring only a few sponges and seawhips, is unknown.

Using the BRUVS, Mike Cappo plans to look further into these mysteries of the deep. In addition, he has been developing stereo technology in collaboration with other institutions that allows the sizes of fish to be accurately measured directly from video.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Mike Cappo, Seafloor Biodiversity Leader, 07 47534262  
e-mail m.cappo@aims.gov.au 

Theresa Millard, Science Communication Manager, 07 47534250 
e-mail t.millard@aims.gov.au 

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Last updated - October 12, 2001

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