NEWS

Brett publishes in MEPS - Oct 10

Brett Taylor publishes the first paper from his MSc thesis:

Taylor B, McIlwain J (2010) Beyond abundance and biomass: effects of marine protected areas on the demography of a highly exploited reef fish. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 411:243-258

Sheena's thesis defense - Oct 10

Sheena Abellena defended her thesis:____

Saipan Fieldtrip - August 10

Jenny, Andy (and their two boys, Ethan and Finn) along with Sparky, Kirstie, Steve, and Will Arlidge travel to Saipan (CNMI) to study fish populations for 2.5 weeks. We rented a house (with a big pool) and performed dive surveys and BRUVS around the islands, Saipan and Tinian.

Rolex Scholar visits Fish Ecology Lab- July 10

Will Arlidge, the current Australasian Rolex Scholar for the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society, is here for 5 weeks to help previous Rolex Scholar, Steve Lindfield, with fieldwork using stereo baited remote underwater video cameras (stereo-BRUVS).

Kathy connects the lionfish puzzle in Phillippines - July 10

Kathy "Madame Lionfish" Cure spends a month in the Phillipines studying lionfish populations. She is replicating methods used in Guam and the Caribbean to understand their distribution and compare to the invasive population in the Caribbean.

Andy gets his PhD! - June 10

Andrew Halford finally receives his PhD after ___ years work. He studying coral reef populations around Australia as part of the long term monitoring team for the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).

Lyss graduates and straight into a PhD- June 10

Alyssa Marshel defended her thesis ______ She has received a PhD scholarship back home in Australia at the University of Queensland and will commence her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Peter Mumby next month. We (especially Sparky) will miss her - good luck Lyss!

Grouper spawning aggregations in Pohnpei - March 10

Jenny and Steve travelled to Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia) to work with collaborator Dr. Kevin Rhodes. They spent 12 days tagging and surveying fish in the Kephara Marine Sanctuary. During this period three species of Grouper aggregate, forming the largest known grouper spawning aggregation in the Pacific. They acoustically tagged 30 grouper, 20 Lethrinus harak, 20 Naso unicornis and lituratus. This will provide important information on the migration and home ranges of these species in the marine reserve.

Steve and Sparky join the NOAA ship - Feb 10

Steve Lindfield, Sparky and Andy embarked on a research cruise aboard the NOAA vessel Oscar Elton Sette. Their trip is part of a collaboration between Jenny McIlwain, the NOAA Pacific Island Fisheries Center and Dr Euan Harvey (UWA) to conduct a fisheries independent assessment of Galvez Bank (Guam), Rota and Saipan (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). Steve and Sparky deployed baited remote video stations to quantify relative abundance of targeted reef fish species occurring between 30-100m. Follow the lads' adventures at Fish 250.

Steve Lindfield, PhD student from UWA arrives - Jan 10

Steve Lindfield, joins the Fish Ecology Lab to work with Jenny and Andy studying fishing pressure across the Marina Islands using stereo baited video cameras. Steve recently started his PhD at the University of Australia under the supervison of Assoc/Prof Euan Harvy. He will complete the majority of his fieldwork based in Guam under co-supervision from Jenny Mcilwain.

Katherine Cure joins the Fish Ecology Lab - August 09

New student Katherine Cure from Columbia joins the McIlwain lab to study Lionfish ecology in collaboration with Dr. Mark Hixon, Oregon State University.

8^th Indo Pacific Fish Conference - June 09

McIlwain lab members, Jenny McIlwain, Andrew Halford, Sheena Abellana, Alyssa Mashell, Mark Priest, and Brett Taylor attended the 8^th IPFC in Freemantle, Perth.  Jenny, Sheena, Alyssa, Mark, and Brett all presented work from their current research.

Brett Taylor Graduates - December 08

Congratulations to Brett Taylor, M.Sc., for successfully defending his thesis entitled "The effects of protected area management on the population biology and reproduction of Lethrinus harak from the inshore waters of Guam"

Recruitment Pulse - August 08

New student Kirstie Goodall-Rendall joins the McIlwain Lab from the University of Calgary, Canada to study the indirect effects of ecosystem degradation with Andrew Halford.

Naso Tagging Project - August 08

Two Orangespine surgeonfish (Naso lituratus) tagged by Marine Lab researchers a month ago, were recently caught by fishermen in nets on the reef flat at Asan.  They swam across the marine preserve boundary at Asan Memorial Park, travelling nearly a kilometre from where they were originally tagged.

A total of 400 orangespine and bluespine surgeonfish (Naso unicornis) have been tagged to date, along with another 30 that have acoustic tags surgically implanted.  Underwater visual surveys are currently underway to re-sight tagged fish in order to estimate the population size and biomass of both species, and to investigate spillover from the marine preserve into adjacent fished areas.

11^th International Coral Reef Symposium - July 08

McIlwain lab members, Sheena Abellana, Mark Priest, and Brett Taylor attended the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, USA. 

Mark presented acoustic work from Oman: Listening to the reefs of Oman: can sound be used as a predictor of marine fauna? 

Brett presented work from his MSc. thesis: Effects of MPA status on the population structure and age-based demography of a heavily exploited reef fish, Lethrinus harak.