Marine heatwave—Coral bleaching
491. Hon Sophie McNeill to the Minister for the Environment:
I refer to today's reports of unprecedented bleaching and coral mortality of our World Heritage-listed reefs at Ningaloo and all along WA's coral coast during our record marine heatwave this year.
(1) Has the government allocated additional funding to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' Marine Science Program since February to monitor the scale and impact of the marine heatwave?
(a) If yes, what was the additional funding and when was this funding allocated?
(b) If not, why not?
(2) Has the government funded additional FTE to DBCA's Marine Science Program since February in response to this unprecedented and devastating event?
(a) If yes, what was the additional FTE and when was this allocated?
(b) If not, why not?
Hon Matthew Swinbourn replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) Yes.
(a) The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions reprioritised activities within its marine parks monitoring program to focus on detecting the impacts of the 2024–25 marine heatwave during the first half of 2025. Approximately $65,000 was allocated in March 2025 to support additional monitoring of the marine heatwave, allowing for supplementary aerial and in-water surveys of marine heatwave impacts at Ningaloo and Montebello Island marine parks.
(b) Not applicable.
(2) In addition to the recurrent funding provided to DBCA to engage in ongoing and long-term monitoring and management of marine parks, the following specific additional resources have been provided.
(a) A casual technical officer was employed to assist with the additional monitoring between April and May 2025, which was a 0.14 FTE.
(b) Not applicable.
