Marine Discovery Centre

Virtual Diving Project

$5,000

The MDC is going to produce a world-class, innovative virtual diving game that will live on their website.  The centre is so busy that it is booked out years in advance. So the on-line game will enable school children (and others) who can’t come to the centre to participate in marine activities.  The game itself is about exploring the temperate marine world.  www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au

The University of Adelaide

Management and spatial ecology of the brush-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus Blythi) in central Australia

$5,000

Brush-tailed mulgara are a threatened medium sized carnivorous marsupial with dramatically declining populations in central Australia.  The main threats are feral predators and competitors, changes in land management, and climate change. This project, submitted by PhD Candidate, Jennifer Molyneux, will study a population of mulgara at Newhaven Sanctuary (owned by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy) in NT and focus on the effects of fire and predation on habitat suitability.

Flinders University

Assessing the impacts of wildlife tourism on the threatened great white shark

$4,950

The white shark is a unique and distinctive species with low reproductive rebound potential and listed as ‘vulnerable’ under the EPBC Act. They are fully protected in Australian waters, however, the population is still threatened by wildlife tourism and cage-diving operations. The project, being driven by Dr Charlie Huveneers, will use a current photo library to create a photo ID catalogue and assess the population dynamics of the great white sharks frequenting the cage-diving sites. The aim is to provide an estimate of the number of sharks impacted by the cage-diving industry and the level of exposure they are subject to. Results will help better manage the industry. NWF is particularly interested in this project because of the use of a non-intrusive method of research.

ANGAIR Inc

Improving plant identification

$2,500

The Anglesea and Aireys Inlet Association for the Protection and Conservation of Flora and Fauna needs to improve their identification of sedges, grasses, juncus and other similar plants in the region.   The project will involve two workshops – Spring and Autumn – to educate volunteers on native grasses and weed ID.

Blackwood Basin Group

Monitoring kit education program

$7,500

This project will provide practical subsidised monitoring kits to landholders.  The kits will allow landholders to establish benchmarks and set objectives for continuous overall improvements in land and water health. The results will be collected and collated by the group to monitor and evaluate progress. The project will also involve a community workshop.