in 2025, the SARA team joined two Australian conferences. The first one was the annual gathering of the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society on the Sunshine Coast. this year was the biggest OCS conference ever and it was also the 20 year anniversary of this society. Barbara served as a committee member for the society some years ago, and during her talk she finally revealed that it was her who kidnapped the society mascot, Stripey, back in 2020.
2025 was also our first time at the annual conference of AMSA (Australian Marine Science Association), which turns out to be one of the largest gathering of marine scientists in Australia! Topics varied widely , from marine heat waves, to the algae bloom on the Great Southern Reef, ichthyology, coral reefs and everything in between.
Our Principal Scientist Barbara co-presented the talk “When traditional knowledge meets modern ecology – range extension and insights into the life history of freshwater whipdays, Urogymnus dalensis“, together with Alison Liddy from Yinjingga Aboriginal Corporation, in the Indigenous Partnerships session. SARA PhD student Nikki presented “What’s in a saw? An exploration of the chemical fingerprint of rostral teeth to gain insights into sawfish life history and spatial ecology” in a session on the future of marine megafauna protection.
From left to right: Dr Barbara Wueringer (SARA), Dr Ruth Reef (Monash Uni), Dr Helen Penrose (Jabiru Environmental), Cheryl Prestipino (Yintjingga Aboriginal Corporation).