Coral trout off the coast of Sydney
by Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW 12 Sep 2022 22:26 BST
Coral trout © Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW
Common coral trout usually call the warmer waters of Queensland home; however, recently they have been spotted as far south as the waters off Sydney.
Common coral trout is one of almost 200 species identified by recently published research that has significantly shifted their range south since 2003 due to climate change.
DPI scientists have collaborated with Redmap Australia (www.redmap.org.au) to produce a NSW report card showing how marine species distributions are changing along the NSW coastline based on sightings made by citizen scientists (such as fishers, divers, boaters and snorkelers).
The NSW Redmap Report Card shows how marine species are moving in response to ocean warming.
The Redmap (Range Extension Database and Mapping) Australia citizen science program enables anyone out on the water to spot, log and map any uncommon marine species not usually seen in their local area.
The NSW report card is based on 656 observations of species outside of their historical distributions along the NSW coastline spotted by 234 'citizen scientists'.
To check out the NSW climate change citizen science report card see the website at: www.marine.nsw.gov.au. NSW DPI Fisheries and Redmap Australia (based at the University of Tasmania) has completed the climate change citizen science report card with support from the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy.