CSIRO Division of Oceanography, Hobart
Editors' note: The Personnel Officer in the CSIRO Division of Oceanography says that they have 23 women and 82 men as research and technical staff, or about 22% women. However, they have only 1 female out of 20 research scientists, only 5%! It is still hard to recruit women in the physical science area.
In the Divison of Fisheries, WISENET member Pru Bonham's approximate count is 33% women (37 females and 75 males) in the research and technician area at the Marine Labs Site in Hobart. Fisheries has two other sites, in WA and Qld. On a recent Fisheries research cruise on Southern Surveyor, she says, 5 out of 12 scientific staff were female.
The following information on CSIRO water science research was provided by the Communications Officer from the Division of Oceanography, Hobart.
CSIRO Oceanography is working to improve our understanding of existing or potential threats to Australia's coastal ecosystems.
Research programs, applying specialist skills in chemical analysis and incorporating the latest physical ocean-modelling techniques, are helping Australia to rehabilitate its coastal environment.
Almost 90 per cent of Australians and most of our industries are in towns and cities along the coastal fringes of the continent. The narrow strip between the hinterland and the ocean is a popular recreational area, a valuable source of food and a transport route, but it has also historically become a dump for much of Australia's liquid and solid waste.
Today, Australians are seeking a balance between these conflicting uses of the coastal strip. Local councils are under pressure to modernise their wastewater treatment, and industrial plants and factories to upgrade their methods of disposal. Australians have become aware of the damage we are doing to our fragile marine ecosystems. In response, CSIRO instituted the Coastal Zone Program, which draws on the expertise of scientists from across the organisation, including the Division of Oceanography.
CSIRO Oceanography is at the forefront of providing communities with the oceanographic knowledge to assist in managing coastal ecosystems. Our coastal zone work has two prongs: chemical analysis to find out what is going into the water and what happens to it there and physical models to find out how the water mixes and where it goes.
Chemical substances in estuaries and coastal waterways can be detected by environmental chemists through surveys and monitoring. Measurements are made in the field to identify the natural concentration and distribution of chemical substances in the water and sediment, and to assess any differences and changes over time.
The water is analysed to find out whether it meets regulatory or advisory criteria.The sediments are analysed because they are often a sink of contaminants as well as a source, and can give the history of the water's quality.
Chemical samples of the water column, and sediments on the river and estuary floor will record almost all activities in the adjoining catchment, such as nutrients used in agriculture, metals, sewage, stormwater effluent, and industrial discharges. Surveys can also provide information on naturally occurring chemicals.
Environmental managers in industry and government must attempt to balance the conflicting demands on coastal waters. If they can predict how these waters will behave, they can site developments (such as marinas, shellfish farms or factories) appropriately.
CSIRO oceanographers have been refining models of the hydrodynamics and sediments of coastal systems. These models trace the mixing and movement of the water in rivers, estuaries and coastal waterways by measuring tides, wind, flow of freshwater, bottom topography, the overall shape of the estuary and the action of nearby ocean currents and eddies in transporting and dispersing particles.
CSIRO Oceanography has developed a model of the River Derwent that can be applied to other estuaries around Australia.
It has also developed models of the Sydney sewage outfalls, Port Phillip Bay, Jervis Bay, Bass Strait and Perth Coastal Waters.
The history of development along the shores of Hobart's Derwent estuary made the river and bay system a natural choice for study by CSIRO's Coastal Zone Program.
Contaminants such as metals and organic compounds have been accumulating for much of this century from the effluent discharges of industrial and urban activities.
In a detailed study by CSIRO Oceanography in 1992, chemists took water samples at the surface, near the bottom and sometimes inbetween every three months for nearly two years. The surveys provided a clear indication of inputs of some metals such as zinc, mercury and cadmium to surface waters in the middle reaches of the estuary.
CSIRO's environmental scientists have made significant advances in supporting coastal management from their studies of coastal waterways.
When linked with a hydrodynamic model of a particular waterway, the chemical models developed for the River Derwent will have wide application. The models will help identify the sources of pollution; what happens when pollutants interact in the water column and with the ecosystem's biology; and how the natural movement of water through tide and wind affects the final destination of the pollutants.
Importantly, this information will help environmental managers in the public and private sectors in their pursuit of a cleaner coastal environment for Australia.
CSIRO Coastal Zone Program, Tasmanian Department of Environment and Land Management, Australian Newsprint Mills, Hobart Metropolitan Councils Association, ECOS - Living on The Edge edition (Autumn, 1995), University of Tasmania Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.