ZSL celebrates World Oceans Day with highlights from Chagos
In this video, Dr. Tom Letessier (Centre for Marine Futures adjunct) describes the latest research being undertaken by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) – in collaboration with the University of Western Australia (UWA) – to support evidence-based marine conservation in the central Indian Ocean. The film was shot during the 2016 Pelagic Expedition to the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)/Chagos Archipelago onboard the MV Pacific Marlin and was released as part of ZSL World Ocean Day promotion.
The video features clips from pelagic baited cameras, a novel sampling tool developed in partnership between UWA and ZSL to document the diversity, distribution and relative abundance of large ocean vertebrates in remote areas. The footage forms the basis of Marjorie Cattaneo Fernandes‘ PhD on pelagic fauna in the region and will help determine the level of protection that the BIOT marine reserve offers to migratory visitors such as sharks and tunas. The imagery also underpins a global mid-water fish assessment survey conducted by CMF/ZSL.