CENTRE FOR MARINE STUDIES

The Living Ocean Centre for Marine Studies fosters collaboration with the community and a wide range of organisations to connect people to their ocean and advance our understanding of the sea and its creatures.  We see this as a place for you to visit, learn, share and investigate. 
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We have developed a link to schools where students can take part in the exciting field research program, our Humpback Whale Tracking and Behavioural Study program. Contact us to have your school involved.

The Living Ocean Centre for Marine Studies builds upon the expertise of the Whale and Seal Foundation (WSF), which merged into Living Ocean in 2014.  WSF brought into Living Ocean experienced whale researchers and educators, including several of the most experienced whale rescue specialists in Australia. For many years WSF volunteers trained the NSW National Parks Service, Australian National Parks, Water Police and other organisations in the rescue of stranded and entangled whales.
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Through study, awareness and community involvement we aim to nurture our ocean environment and give its creatures a voice.

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HUMPBACK & WHALE MIGRATION RESEARCH

LIVING OCEAN DEVELOPS WORLD CLASS APPLICATION FOR SMARTPHONES AND OTHER DEVICES TO TRACK OCEAN LIFE 

WHALE MIGRATION BEHAVIOUR
Living Ocean’s humpback research focuses on the behaviour of large numbers of whales in a limited geographic area, calling for specialised software to facilitate data recording.
​Bill Fulton, who leads Living Ocean’s Centre for Marine Studies, has developed Behayve,  a unique smartphone app that non-invasively tracks whales, records their behaviour and, using a wireless link to ship’s instruments, captures the environmental conditions they experience. Commonwealth and State scientific licenses also allow drone (UAV) observation and recording.
Availability of Behayve to researchers worldwide was announced at the World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona on 7 December 2019. The app is configurable for scientific studies on a wide range of terrestrial and marine animals.

Our core Humpback Research team members  

Bill Fulton - IT Cetacean behaviour and tracking programmer

Sam Barrip - Cetacean data recorder and observations

Claudia Newman - Marine studies and data logger

Robbi & Carol Newman - LO co founders & operations managers

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SOME OF OUR CREW

Research crew, observers, licensed drone (UAV) operators and navigators

Mark Farrell - Navigation Sea School International

Jools Farrell - Data recorder Sea Shepherd

Steve Maxwell - UAV & cameras Wildman Films

Assoc. Prof. Ian Goodwin Macquarie University

Cassandra Murray - Science officer FantaSea

Photographers, videographers, media

Steve Maxwell

David Jenkins

Rita Kluge

Jake Parker

Matt Kemp

Guy Finlay

Jack Barrip

IMAGE Robbi Newman Light&Vision

PUBLIC AWARENESS

*Underwater clip by Denby Sheather     .  .

SOS SAVING OUR SEABIRDS - RESEARCH WITH DR. JENNIFER LAVERS

plastics in seabirds

In Australia, around 90% of Flesh-footed Shearwater adults and chicks contain plastic (Lavers & Bond 2016). In 2011, one chick was found to have more than 275 pieces of plastic in it’s stomach (equivalent to an average human ingesting 10kg of plastic; Lavers et al. 2014).  Recent data (see Publications) indicate this species is one of the world's most heavily contaminated seabirds and chicks that ingest large amounts of plastic have poor body condition and likely suffer reduced juvenile survival.  Not surprisingly, Flesh-footed Shearwater populations on Lord Howe Island and in New Zealand have declined significantly over the past few decades.

TRACKING SOFTWARE

WHALE MIGRATION BEHAVIOUR

Living Ocean’s humpback research focuses on the behaviour of large numbers of whales in a limited geographic area, calling for specialised software to facilitate data recording. Bill Fulton, who leads Living Ocean’s Centre for Marine Studies, has developed a unique smartphone app that non-invasively tracks whales, records their behaviour and, using a wireless link to ship’s instruments, captures the environmental conditions they experience. The app is configurable to study any animal at all. ​Commonwealth & State licenses also allows drone (UAV) observation and recording.

STUDENTS & CITIZEN SCIENCE

STUDENT RESEARCH PRACTICALS

Living Ocean takes students on research voyages to experience whale tracking and behaviour and record it photographically for social media and research.

​“Whether it is diving down beneath the surface to discover a new untouched world or to be sharing a wave with your best mate, or to be watching whales swim past the coastline , to be on or around the ocean it makes you feel alive. To be able to share this experience to others through photos is a gift in itself.”
- Jack Barripp, Barrenjoey High School

RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS

FANTASEA CRUISING & WHALE WATCHING

Living Ocean has partnered with Fantasea to provide valuable information for reference and guidance regarding Humpback and whale migration behaviour. Fantasea guides are using our tracking software to add to the research database. 

​This helps evaluate behaviour patterns of whales in relation to observation craft.
Our permits for the use of drones in State and Federal waters where practical, only add to the accuracy and understanding of human and cetacean interaction.

SEA SHEPHERD & GLOBAL OCEANS

Living Ocean has partnered with Sea Shepherd to conduct joint science and data research in remote locations otherwise inaccessible to everyday research.
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While engaged in activities in our southern oceans and the Southern Ocean Sanctuary zone, we partnered to study poorly-understood whale abundances in the Southern Ocean. 
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We also investigated the extent of plastic pollution in the Antarctic by studying the ingestion of plastics by marine life caught or entangled in fishing gear. In collaboration with Sea Shepherd’s ‘Operation Icefish’ Living Ocean scientists Colette Harmsen, Bia Figueiredo and Jake Parker aboard the Sam Simon dissected and studied dead Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish, seabirds and other marine life that had fallen foul of illegal toothfish fishing in international Antarctic waters.
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​The Living Ocean Fund has also donated to Sea Shepherd to assist its activities in Timor Leste with the Ocean Warrior to help document  illegal poaching of sharks and fish stocks in its territorial waters.

“We are still blessed with oceans that are very much alive, and what better reason could there be to look after them? Life begets life! Taking care of the oceans means that we are taking care of ourselves, individually and as a species.
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​Nick Carroll - Ocean lifestyle author 

IMAGE BY TOM CARROLL