Monday, 31st August Australian Marine Sciences Association 2026 Conference

Featuring talks from Kirsten Benkendorff and Rob Harcourt.

• Conservation, Chemistry, Cancer, Contamination and Community - Kirsten Benkendorff
• Forty Years of Marine Predator Science: Trials, Tribulations and Real-World Impact - Rob Harcourt

• Bridging Marine Science and Policy for Lasting Impact   - Sue Barrell
• When science travels: two decades of collaborative tuna research translating into outcomes - Ilona Stobutzki
• Prescribed harvest limits to constrain increased coral harvesting within Australia’s Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area - Morgan Pratchett
• From science to action: Guiding evidence-based management for Reef resilience  - Chloe Schauble
• The challenge of prioritising thousands of islands in the Great Barrier Reef for restoration - Clarissa CE Elakis and Cathy CC Crawley
• Managing Research Within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to Improve Both Scientific and Management Outcomes - Ed Roberts
• Subtropical corals in the Solitary Islands Marine Park: multi-decadal resilience despite severe disturbances, with management adapting to an emerging threat - Hamish A Malcolm
• Seafloor Geomorphology as a Foundation for Australia’s Marine Park 10‑year Review  - Scott Nichol
• Mapping Seabed Geomorphology and Benthic Habitats for Sustainable Offshore Renewable Energy Development in Bass Strait - Andrew Carroll

•   High Seas Marine Conservation - Insights from the High Seas Fisheries Closures in the Western and Central Pacific  - Quentin Hanich
• Global Tracking of Marine Megafauna to Deliver Science‑Based Protection on the High Seas - Ana Micaela Martins Sequeira
• Under the bed: The hidden ocean frontier   - Sarah Kachovich
• The development of a spatial management Protocol for Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA): lessons and implications  - Trent Timmiss
• Implementing the IUCN Resolution on Phasing Out Deep-Sea Bottom Trawling: Pathways, Challenges, and Opportunities - Lyn(da) Goldsworthy
• Walking the talk: voluntary actions on marine protected areas on the high seas - Jiliang Chen

• Listening Before We Manage: Operationalising Australia’s Strategy for Nature Through Relationship - Jodi Edwards
• Blue Humanities and an Ethics of Care for Operationalising Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030 - Larelle Bossi
• Reflections on co-ethnic and cross-ethnic ethnography in marginalized communities - Makrita Solitei
• Translating Nature: how Local Governments Frame Conservation, Responsibility, and Care Along the Great Barrier Reef - Jacqueline Lau
• Understanding public attitudes toward marine parks: insights from a decade of national surveys - Matthew Navarro

• Oyster Immune Response to Multiple Climate Change Stressors: Synthesising Responses with Experimental Applications - Jasmine Glencross
• Infrastructure pathways shape polar sponge biodiversity data: clarifying biases and priorities for data integration - Rachel V Downey
• From Intro to Impact: How to Partner with Ocean Funders  - Charlotte A Birkmanis
• Australia’s Southeast Asia Maritime Partnerships Program - William Tucker
• 25 years of scientific diving under ADAS: Has anything changed and what needs to change? - David Cummings
• Suitability Modelling for Offshore Cultivation of Macrocystis pyrifera in Australia’s southern waters   - Michelle L Manion
• Fine-scale monitoring of coral disease and corallivore disturbance at Fitzroy Island, Great Barrier Reef - Letizia Ripa and Edona Berisha
• Seadragon Conservation: an initiate to support research and outreach into an iconic fish group - David Booth
• Upscaling Colony Scale Fish Effects to Population Level Recovery Trajectories - Daniel Pygas

• Dynamics, drivers, and dispersal of diseases in kelp - Ceridwen Fraser
• Where do Donor Seagrass Shoots Come From? Genetic Insights to Guide Posidonia Restoration. - Natalie Coy
• Dugong Population Genomics in Australia - Eva Paulus
• Integrating fish biology, population genomics and fishery policies for informed management of interjurisdictional multi-species fisheries - Mayuresh Gangal
• How population genetics can inform invasive species management - Morgan R Ellis
• Multiscale coral connectivity across Western Australia: evidence from genetic structure and biophysical modelling - Kira Brereton

• Advancing a science‑based approach to protection of the Lord Howe Rise and South Tasman Sea - Kate Noble
• Anticipating the science needed to support BBNJ Clearing House Mechanism - Kerryn Brent
• Building representative marine protected area networks: marine protected area planning in Antarctica's Southern Ocean. - Anne Dr Boothroyd
• Australia, Antarctica, and the Plastic Pollution Problem that Remains     - Vaibhavi Dwivedi
• Developing a cryopreservation protocol for the forest-forming seaweed Phyllospora comosa as a tool for restoration - Catalina A. Musrri

• South Australia’s Harmful Algal Bloom: Scale, Science and Response - Mike Steer
• Progress in Understanding and Management of Marine Harmful Algal Blooms in the Australian region - Gustaaf Hallegraeff
• Evaluation of Drivers of the 2025 Harmful Algal Bloom Event in South Australia - Simon D Goldsworthy
• Advancing Satellite-Based Monitoring of Harmful Algal Blooms and Water Quality in South Australian Gulf Systems - Nagur Cherukuru
• Seasonal Variability in Pigment Based Phytoplankton Community Structure and HAB-Signatures in Spencer Gulf, Southern Australia   - Albertina Dias
• South Australia’s unprecedented Harmful Algal Bloom: an overview of the operational oceanographic response and future monitoring and forecasting research initiatives. - Mark J Doubell
• Marine Protected Areas: Foundation for understanding and recovery from the HAB  - Danny Brock

• Iron biogeochemical cycling in the northern subantarctic at the Southern Ocean Time Series Site - Michael Ellwood
• The unique trace metal requirements of Southern Ocean phytoplankton - Sam Eggins
• Intertidal microbial mats, driving nutrient pulses in the Pilbara, Western Australia - Shannon Dee
• Understanding Oxygen Dynamics in Macquarie Harbour - Darren Engwirda
• Catchment nutrient inputs are critical for the productivity of Australia’s wet-dry tropical estuaries and nearshore – what are the risks from water development? - Michele A Burford
• Crowding the Coast: Plume Interactions Reduce CO₂ Uptake from Closely Spaced Alkalinity Outfalls - Harris Anderson

• Connecting Rangers and Cultural Advisors to steer management priorities for Gnaala Karla Booja Sea Country - Gnaala Karla Booja Rangers
• Twenty years of collaborating – the journey and learnings of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution - Jenny Shaw
• From policy to practice: strong partnerships on sea Country - Hannah L Allan
• Using genetic diversity and connectivity in the Yawuru Nagulagun (Roebuck Bay) Marine Park to assess the resilience of seagrass meadows - Anna Frouws
• A development guide for High Seas Marine Protected Areas - Rebecca Hubbard
• ‘This is how we do it’: insights into applying Indigenous Data Sovereignty in the National Environmental Science Program - Paul Hedge
• Right Way Collaborative Saltwater Research In The Kimberley - ISWAG’s Best Practice Guide Re-Launched - Dean Mathews and Phoebe Martin
• From Data to Knowledge: Understanding Existing Torres Strait Marine Habitat Data - Natalie Robson
• Advancing Ocean Research Through Partnerships: The DISCOVERY Fleet of The International SeaKeepers Society - Alessandra Vallim
• Collective Knowledge to Define Iconic Species for Research and Conservation Priorities - Ryan Baring

• Barriers to the uptake of eDNA  for monitoring Marine Parks and Fisheries in Australia - Euan Harvey
• Monitoring Marine Parks. What we do, how and where eDNA might fit. - Jordan Goetze
• The use of eDNA for Invasive Marine species surveillance and detection. Applications and lessons from 10 years of use. - Claire Wellington
• How to get relative species quantification from eDNA surveys - Simon Jarman
• From deployment to functioning ecosystems: assessing taxonomic richness and community composition on modular shellfish reefs using eDNA metabarcoding - Karen L Cheney
• A decade of building Australia's eDNA capability - Oliver Berry
• Revealing Deep-Sea Fish Biodiversity in the Coral Sea Marine Park Using eDNA - Bruce Deagle
• After the flood: eDNA tracks estuarine resilience in Northern NSW  - Simone A Gardiner
• Rebooting estuarine monitoring – How can environmental DNA help redefine biodiversity baselines in Australia? - Maarten De Brauwer
• Caring for Sea Country: Integrating eDNA and Traditional Knowledge in Yamatji Ranger Programs - Kyra Lewis
• Collaboration with coastal NSW Indigenous Rangers strengthens state-wide eDNA monitoring program - Kaitlyn Harris
• The GloMBO Partnership. Globalising Marine Biodiversity Observations: An eDNA Observing System for Ocean-Scale Monitoring using Autonomous eDNA sampling from Vessels of Opportunity - Pascal Craw
• Connecting marine biomonitoring data with an audience – using digital tools to generate impact and support operational decision-making. - Petra Muellner
• Building Institutional Infrastructure and FAIR Workflows for Marine eDNA Data Publication - Berenice Talamantes Becerra
• Translating eDNA into Trusted Metrics for Marine Management - Shaun Wilkinson
• Beyond the Barriers: What the future holds for DNA based biomonitoring. - Mike Bunce
• Empowerment and Scaling: Tackling the barriers to entry for the uptake of eDNA - Eric j Raes

• Modelling ecosystem impacts and recovery trajectories from the 2025 South Australian harmful algal bloom - Amelia A Desbiens
• The cell from hell: extracellular toxicity and severe impacts at sub-peak concentrations during a South Australian Karenia bloom - Craig Styan
• The Psychological Impacts of the South Australian Harmful Algal Bloom Event - Brianna Le Busque
• The first wave: impacts of the 2025 South Australian algal bloom on sharks and rays - Charlie Huveneers
• Making good from bad: mass fish kills from a harmful algal bloom create a unique opportunity to study rare and cryptic fish biology - Simon Bryars
• Monitoring Fish Distribution Following a Harmful Algal Bloom in Gulf St Vincent, South Australia - Ben Scoulding
• What is their fate? A comparison of beach washup mortalities with observed change to fish communities using BRUVS  - Craig A Meakin
• Using DNA metabarcoding and next-generation sequencing to assess community dynamics temporally and spatially in South Australia’s 2025-26 harmful algal bloom event - Sarah Catalano
• Assessing impacts of Harmful Algal Bloom Events on South Australian Benthic Habitats - Shannen Smith
• After the Bloom: Who Stayed, Who Strayed, Who Got a New Shell.  - Daniel Easton
• THe Harmful Algal Holobiont - Elizabeth Dinsdale
• Seeing through the bloom: BRUVS-based impact assessments of nearshore marine biodiversity  - Sophie Russell

This session features a discussion that goes overtime. 

• Data through to Information: Building Australia's Digital Marine Commons - Peter Walsh
• Making marine environmental data more assessment ready: cloud-optimised data products for national reporting - Eduardo Klein Salas
• Connecting Land, Coast and Ocean through National Positioning   - Umma Zannat
• From Priorities to Impact: How AusSeabed is Shaping the Future of Seabed Mapping Coordination - Ryan de Wet
• From fjords to futures:  A student’s reflection of the 2025 ANZIC Marine Geoscience Masterclass in Fiordland, New Zealand - Jarell Cubarrubia
• Innovative Intertidal Monitoring to Support Climate-Resilient Management in Northwest Australia - James P Keating
• Foundational seabed data and tools to support systematic understanding of our marine environment  - Zhi Huang
• Increasing Data Availability for Quantitative Cumulative Impact Assessment: A FAIR-Secure Pipeline for Marine Environments - Harrison Carmody
• Deriving biologically grounded reference points for Length-Based Indicators in data-limited fisheries - Deepak Pazhayamadom
• Mapping the unknown: Seagrass probability modelling in data-poor regions - Caitlin Smith

• Navigating the governance framework for deep sea research   - Camille Goodman
• Discovering deep-sea invertebrate biodiversity and ecology in the Coral Sea Marine Park - Sue-Ann Watson
• Identifying deep-sea vulnerable marine ecosystems from still images in the Tasman Sea - Katrina Goddard
• Sea ice decline and habitat changes are reshaping benthic biodiversity and ecological functioning in East Antarctica - John Turnbull
• Fantastic Hexactinellids and Where to Find Them: Habitat-Morphology Relations in Abyssal and Hadal Glass Sponges (Porifera: Hexactinellida) - Alfredo Marchio
• The Ecological Niches of a Deep-Sea Scale Worm Group; Macellicephalinae - Ciara R Fegredo
• Beyond Hadal Trenches: Ontogenetic Vertical Stratification of Deep-Sea Amphipods - Jenny A. Wainwright
• Strategic Environmental Assessment for Deep Sea Minerals in the Cook Islands: the Knowledge-Policy Interface - Beth Toki
• Identification and characterisation of slope failure features along the flanks of Christmas Island and their potential triggers - Yakup Niyazi
• The role of science in the governance of the deep ocean - Amanda Schadeberg