Using tri-axial accelerometer loggers to identify spawning behaviours of large pelagic fish.

Background: Tri-axial accelerometers have been used to remotely describe and identify in situ behaviours of a range of animals without requiring direct observations. Datasets collected from these accelerometers (i.e.

Increased connectivity and depth improve the effectiveness of marine reserves.

Marine reserves are a key tool for the conservation of marine biodiversity, yet only ~2.5% of the world's oceans are protected. The integration of marine reserves into connected networks representing all habitats has been encouraged by international agreements, yet the benefits of this design has not been tested empirically.

Effectiveness of novel fabrics to resist punctures and lacerations from white shark (Carcharodon carcharias): Implications to reduce injuries from shark bites.

Increases in the number of shark bites, along with increased media attention on shark-human interactions has led to growing interest in preventing injuries from shark bites through the use of personal mitigation measures. The leading cause of fatality from shark bite victims is blood loss; thus reducing haemorrhaging may provide additional time for a shark bite victim to be attended to by emergency services. Despite previous shark-proof suits being bulky and cumbersome, new technological advances in fabric has allowed the development of lightweight alternatives that can be incorporated onto traditional wetsuits.

Eyes on the size: accuracy of visual length estimates of white sharks, .

Visual estimates have been used extensively to determine the length of large organisms that are logistically challenging to measure. However, there has been little effort to quantify the accuracy or validity of this technique despite inaccurate size estimates leading to incorrect population assessments and misinformed management strategies. Here, we compared visually estimated total length measurements of white sharks, , during cage-diving operations with measurements obtained from stereo-video cameras and assessed the accuracy of those estimates in relation to suspected biases (shark size, and observer experience and gender) using generalized linear mixed-models and linear regressions.

Lack of light colour effects when sampling fish at night in low visibility environments.

We compared night deployments of Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) in South Australia, illuminated by either red or blue light and found similar species compositions and abundances with both colours. We observed c. 1800 individuals from 52 species across 107 night-time deployments, with only one site out of six showing differences in assemblages between the two colours.

Effectiveness of five personal shark-bite deterrents for surfers.

The number of shark-human interactions and shark bites per capita has been increasing since the 1980s, leading to a rise in measures developed to mitigate the risk of shark bites. Yet many of the products commercially available for personal protection have not been scientifically tested, potentially providing an exaggerated sense of security to the people using them. We tested five personal shark deterrents developed for surfers ( [] and ) by comparing the percentage of baits taken, distance to the bait, number of passes, and whether a shark reaction could be observed.

What are we missing? Advantages of more than one viewpoint to estimate fish assemblages using baited video.

Counting errors can bias assessments of species abundance and richness, which can affect assessments of stock structure, population structure and monitoring programmes. Many methods for studying ecology use fixed viewpoints (e.g.