Blue Biosphere
The BlueBiosphere marine entries have been compiled with the support of a group of individuals concerned with ocean health and marine issues bearing on island ecology and life. These opinion pieces are offered strictly to stimulate community discussion and do not represent the policies, positions or resolutions of any association, organisation or network.
Responding to El Niño's Call
Spring has arrived on Bruny Island, but the warming days carry a warning. Forecasters are predicting a super El Niño this summer—an ocean-scale event that will heat the unique marine environments surrounding …
Modular Ecosystems – MBIEN#12
Look at Bruny Island from the sea on a still morning, and it appears singular: a long, dark ridge of dolerite and eucalypt, drawn between the Channel and the open ocean. But step closer, and it dissolves into a …
A Line In The Water – MBIEN#11
The ocean is under attack. Not in some distant future, not in some abstract way, but here, now, in the waters that shape this island. The island is not a retreat. Not a place to escape the world’s problems, not another …
Activating Bruny Island’s Biotic Pump MBIEN#10
Bruny Island’s drinking water shortage—over-extracted aquifers, drying creeks, and a landscape that is losing its ancient ability to hold moisture—is not a problem that …
A Call For Hope In Concrete Action – MBIEN#8
On the privilege of being an ocean-aware Bruny Islander.
There is a particular kind of knowing that comes from living on an island shaped by the Roaring Forties, where the Southern Ocean meets …
Salmon Study Submission
Several BIEN members collaborated to lodge a submission in response to the Tasmanian Government’s consultation on the Draft Study Plan and Draft Stakeholder Engagement Plan for the Independent Study of …
The Island That Responds MBIEN #7
The Ocean in Trouble, and the Island that responds.
Three pieces of news this week, dispatched from across the globe, land like naval shells on Bruny’s shore. Each is a different symptom of the …
Tide Is Turning MBIEN #6
In the weeks since we imagined the Bruny BlueBioSphere—where the sea is the yin to the island’s yang—the path toward that vision has been lit by real, hopeful, tangible steps. The BlueBioSphere is already alive – in all …
Bruny BlueBioSphere MBIEN #5
A blue-print for a living sea where island and sea can breathe as one again.
Look at Bruny Island not from the road, but from the water. From a boat in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, the island is a long, low silhouette …
The Norway Mirror MBIEN #4
Two recent investigations—one an exclusive Guardian report published 4 May, the other a major Sunstone Institute multimedia feature—have laid bare the cumulative ecological cost of Norway’s salmon farming industry. …
The Zuidpool Disclosure MBIEN #3
Bruny Island sits at the confluence of forces—the cold breath of the Southern Ocean, the dark tannin tongues of the Derwent, and the East Australian Current’s fading pulse. This mixing zone sustains …
The Florfenicol Legacy MBIEN #2
The waters surrounding Bruny Island represent one of Australia’s most intricate and productive marine interfaces—a meeting point of the East Australian Current, the Southern Ocean, and the tannin-rich outflow …
Antibiotic Contamination MBIEN #1
The problems facing southern Tasmania’s salmon farming industry have intensified, focusing on antibiotic contamination, political interference in environmental protection, and a deepening public mistrust. …
Beach Retreat On The Neck
Matt Gunn has, since 2017, tracked erosion on the southern end of The Neck. This very valuable resource is publicly available as Dismal Tides – his on-line data repository which features: …
TAMP Flyers
We feature these flyers from Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP) that highlight some impacts of industrial fish farming: …
Take Care Swimming In The Channel
Dead fish-farm salmon and bits of salmon have been washing up on beaches in the Channel, including on Bruny, with the EPA cautioning people to take care handling any material or coming in contact with it. …