The Australian government has teamed up with the Minderoo Foundation to track threatened marine species through environmental DNA (eDNA) technology, an approach some are pushing to use as a foundation for countries to earn biodiversity credits through Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
“The project leverages Minderoo’s OceanOmics program which is developing and scaling the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a non-invasive, robust biomonitoring tool for management and conservation in our unique marine ecosystems,” said a statement from Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office on Wednesday.
With a total funding of A$11.8 million ($8 mln) – A$3.4 mln from the government and the rest from Minderoo – the project will fund a series of expeditions over the next two years, including along the coast of Western Australia and Australia’s Indian Ocean territories.
During those voyages, experts will retrieve eDNA from water samples to determine which species are present, and then proceed to use the data to develop new methods to monitor the status and trends of those species over time, according to the statement.
“Our oceans are under threat globally from multiple threats, including over-fishing, plastic pollution and climate change. Yet a major deterrent to arresting these planetary threats is our ability to accurately measure the scale of the problems,” said Andrew Forrest, Minderoo Foundation chairman.
“We have brought together the latest advances in DNA sequencing and computational analysis to massively increase the speed and scale at which we can measure and monitor life in the ocean. We do this by collecting and analysing marine environmental DNA – the floating fragments of genetic material found in seawater.”
The project will focus on Australia’s 60 marine parks, and the parties hope these activities can contribute to developing guidelines for how eDNA can be applied to monitor biodiversity in the marine parks as well as provide a foundation for implementing eDNA use into relevant policy and regulatory frameworks.
The expeditions, some of which have already been made, will be made on the research vessel Pangea Ocean Explorer, and the programme will collaborate with the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre to analyse water samples, according to the statement.
“Exciting environmental DNA work will help us monitor ocean life far quicker than traditional methods of data collection. It means we could dip a bucket into the water and by the power of science detect if an endangered species has been in the area recently,” said Minister Plibersek.
“It’s an incredibly exciting field of research, and I want to see more philanthropic groups and governments working together like this, to maximise both of our strengths,” she added.
The move comes as US start-up New Atlantis is using the same approach to build an open access analytics platform based on eDNA samples from around the world.
New Atlantis’ ambition is to use that platform as a foundation for national governments to be able to generate and issue biodiversity credits from MPAs, to better protect their oceans.
Meanwhile, Plibersek said Wednesday Australia later this year will develop a national sustainable ocean plan.
“It will identify key areas for reform and set out a concrete plan for how we conserve and manage our oceans now and into the future, so that we can continue to make the most of our blue economy,” she told the Ocean Business Leaders Summit in Sydney.
As part of the process to create the plan, the government will host a National Ocean Summit, Plibersek said.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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