Shark Bay documentary is out!

After nearly 4 years of filming, editing and producing, MIRG Australia & Blue Office Productions in co-operation with Coastwest and DEC have finally released their comprehensive 45-minute documentary SHARK BAY: Gutharragudu.

As WA's only coastal World Heritage ecosystem and one of just 17 regions inscribed on the WH List for all four natural universal values, the conservation of Shark Bay is of enormous importance.

The region is home to the largest seagrass meadows on earth; is a feeding (and possibly mating and/or pupping) ground for 10% of the world's remaining dugong population; and is one of the few places on earth where stromatolites have the chance to form, whereas both the terrestrial and marine environments have been subjected to various evolutionary processes - forming isolated pockets of unique habitats that are home to numerous endangered, rare and/or endemic species.

In addition to the quality of the natural environment, Shark Bay is rich in historical sites related to: i) early European exploring expeditions from 1616 onwards; and ii) indigenous occupation over (at least) the last 5,000 years. Yet despite its significance to WA's natural/cultural heritage and biodiversity, surprisingly little is available in the way of informative accounts or educational material accessible to the general public.

"SHARK BAY: Gutarragudu" is aimed at telling the full story of the Bay - from the formation and evolution of this sea grass ecosystem ~8,000 years ago to its current state as a remarkable yet vulnerable environment where pressure from various user groups coexists with some groundbreaking conservation projects.

It is driven by natural and human elements playing in both the terrestrial and marine environments - and contrasts the deep spiritual meaning of Shark Bay for the Indigenous community with the disappointment of early European explorers and today's renewed respect for the area. As the story unfolds we are taken past the unique terrestrial communities of birds, reptiles and mammals on the islands via the sea grass grazers, west coast endemics and tropical migrants to the stromatolite-building microorganisms in Hamelin Pool.

Now for sale through the MIRG Shop and selected retailers.

Doco Pipeline 2010

Blue Office Productions and MIRG Australia continue to script and produce educational documentaries on WA ecosystems.

This year (2010) we aim to complete a documentary on The Houtman Abrolhos (in cooperation with UWA) and start the script on a doco on Ningaloo Reef, where we have collected footage since 2004.

Great white tagging

Over the last 5 years, and with help from the CSIRO shark scientists Barry Bruce and John Stevens, Blue Office Productions and MIRG Australia have collected a wealth of great white shark tagging footage.

The footage shows the deployment of various types of tags and is currently being edited into an informative documentary on great white sharks and their movements in Australian waters.

The documentary is expected to be finalised and available for sale by next year.

Support MIRG

You can now actively support MIRG Australia by purchasing one or several items from the MIRG Shop.

New Links welcome

Organisations and community groups are welcome to send in their details.

"Unique and unexplored"

The promotional video "Unique and Unexplored" on the natural environment of the Research Archipelago is available again. After running out of copies, the video - commissioned by the Recherche Archipelago Advisory Group and produced by David Riggs and Jennene Paris with help from MIRG Australia - is now back and can be ordered from the MIRG Shop.

The video features plenty of underwater footage from the region and also includes interviews with the first Esperance commercial fisher and several scientists.

For more information and a preview visit: www.rag.net.au

Ningaloo Book is out!!

More than 5 years after starting the literature research, The book on Ningaloo Reef, "NINGALOO: Australia's Untamed Reef" (184 pages) is finished. It is available as an e-book for $24.95 through the MIRG Shop and will be available in book form in April 2010 for $49.95.

"NINGALOO: Australia's Untamed Reef" is the first comprehensive account of the natural history of Ningaloo Reef and the Cape Range peninsula.

It explains how the peninsula rose from the ocean and how the fringing coral reef formed. It explores the various parts of Ningaloo Reef, the oceanography of the area and the climate - sketching the big picture.

The central chapter is on the reef's creatures and their, often bizarre, relationships. It talks of predators and attack, prey and defence, symbiosis, parasitism and mating rituals.

Then it's the turn of Ningaloo's megafauna: a chapter on whales, whale sharks, dugongs, dolphins, mata rays and other big creatures.

The final chapter talks of management and conservation; of global warming and the state of the world's coral reefs; and of why Ningaloo is one of very few reefs that is likely to play a hugely important role in the future and of sceptics.

Sprinkled throughout the book are numerous topic boxes, some of which are available free of charge here.

"Ningaloo Reef" contains over 240 fantastic photo's, most of which were shot by Exmouth photographer Craig Kitson.