SCMDC Marine Scientist Sheree Epe was recently invited to attend a ClimateWatch Marine workshop held at the University of Technology Sydney. This workshop brought together scientists, marine educators and representatives of both government and community organisations and was a great opportunity to provide input into the development of the new ClimateWatch Marine project.

ClimateWatch Marine builds on the successful terrestrial-based ClimateWatch program which allows community members to log and record sightings of certain species. The program aims to understand how changes in temperature and rainfall are affecting the behaviour of Australia’s plants and animals. The marine program will be used to understand species distribution shifts as a possible result of climate change and will focus on intertidal species.

Sheree said it was a great opportunity to develop new contacts and provide some advice on how the program might be developed. SCMDC hopes to be further involved in the roll out of this new initiative.