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About this web site...
Universities and government agencies are increasingly targeting recreational divers as a source of invaluable information on the marine environment. Amateur photographers and collectors have contributed greatly to our present knowledge of marine creatures (distribution, habits, etc.). Working at Southern Cross University and living on the north coast of New South Wales I have had many opportunities to help with marine research projects conducted by staff and students and to contribute to projects by a number of external agencies (NSW Fisheries Protected Species Sighting Sheet Program, grey nurse shark migration and population studies by NSW Fisheries Research Division, etc.). This web site is intended; as a medium for me to display my underwater photography, as a way to highlight my developing marine based research interests, as a resource to highlight some marine based projects that recreational divers might like to be involved with and as a medium to present observations I have made of marine creatures. Four project areas are currently presented, these include: Shark research - Mainly focuses on my current research interest into wobbegong sharks. Includes a photographic record of copulation for Orectolobus ornatus and some information on other shark related research projects.
To the web developer: As I don't have a lot of time to put into it, this web site is a work in progress. Also I have trialed a number of HTML editors in the development of this site as well as editing the code myself (my prefered approach after trying a range of HTML editors :-) ). As a result much of the HTML contains unnecessary tags or things may be acheived in a round-about way. As time goes by I will endeavour to trim the fat and make things a lot simpler. I have also avoided using frames to-date or features which require special plugins. Yes you can do some really neat stuff but nothing annoys me personally more than visiting a site only to be told I first need to install this or that plugin before going any further. Copyright... Please note that all images in this collection are subject to copyright (also see link to university copyright statement at bottom of this page) and the presentation of the images in an electronic form does not imply the right to copy or otherwise reproduce these images without the authors express permission. Links may be made to the index pages but not to individual images presented as presentation in this way might imply ownership. Images remain the property of the photographers. Prior permission must be saught from the author/photographer before copying or reproducing material in any way. All text, photographs and artwork presented here is my own work, except where otherwise stated. In most places image size and resolution has been reduced to improve load time and make the images easier to view, as well as making the images less suitable for print publication and reproduction. Better quality images can be made available on request.
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Nudibranchs
of NE NSW - As the name suggests a developing photographic
guide to the nudibranchs of north east New South Wales.
A friend of mine, Matthew Stanton, and several other interested parties are currently involved in planning a diver survey day for the eastern king wrasse (Coris sandageri). The survey would help establish the status of the wrasse and possibly support work to list the species under the Fisheries Threatened Species Program. Anecdotal evidence suggests the species numbers are dwindling but some work is needed to see if this observation is supported.