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A group of students from the University of Western Australia in Perth spent a week in Albany as part of their course in Field Techniques in Marine Science.

Around 80 students were involved in a variety of projects in King George Sound, Princess Royal Harbour and Oyster Harbour. Projects included analyses of fish populations on local reefs, quantification of seagrass beds, analysis of sediment nutrients, quantification of molluncan distributions in Princess Royal Harbour, and investigations of factors that might affect the oysters on the farms in Oyster Harbour.

The Oyster Harbour group, led by Professor Peter Cook from the Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, carried out numerous investigations of nutrient levels entering the harbour from local rivers such as the Kalgan River, King River and Yakamia Creek, determinations of the distribution of planktonic species that might feed the oysters on the farm, as well as estimations of potential sources of coliform bacteria from local rivers.

Many of the samples collected were sent off to Perth for laboratory analysis whilst others were analysed on-site by the students themselves.

The students gained valuable experience from the field work in Albany. "We all had a great week and learnt heaps," commented student Dylan Lamb.

Several of the students expressed an interest in returning to Albany at some point in the future to further their studies in Marine Science.

Media references

Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs) 6488 3229 / 0400 700 783

Paula Phillips (Albany Centre) 9842 0810