Osprey Reef is an isolated seamount in the Coral Sea, approximately 220 km east off the north-east coast of Australia, and 125 km from the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
Ecology
Population ecology of reef shark species and
manta rays inhabiting the seamount.
Impact of Tourism
Shark ecotourism is a growing multi-million dollar industry worldwide and yet there is still limited information on how provisioning sharks or tourism in general affects their natural behaviour and health.
Partnership
Partnering with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and University of Queensland and James Cook University to make Osprey Reef
the most accessible and studied deep water
reef system in the world.
PUBLICATIONS
Barnett A, Payne NL, Semmens JM, Fitzpatrick R (2016) Ecotourism increases the field metabolic rate of whitetip reef sharks. Biological Conservation 199:132-136
Barnett A, Abrantes KG, Seymour J, Fitzpatrick R (2012) Residency and spatial use by reef sharks of an isolated seamount and its implications for conservation. PLOS ONE 7: e36574
Fitzpatrick R, Abrantes K, Seymour J, Barnett A (2011) Variation in depth of whitetip reef sharks: do shark feeds change their behaviour? Coral Reefs 30: 569-577
Lindsay, D.J., Yoshida, H., Uemura, K., Yamamoto, H., Ishibashi, S., Nishikawa, J., Reimer, J.D., Fitzpatrick, R., Fujikura, K. and T. Maruyama (2012). The untethered remotely-operated vehicle PICASSO-1 and its deployment from chartered dive vessels for deep sea surveys off Okinawa, Japan, and Osprey Reef, Coral Sea, Australia. Marine Technology Society Journal 46: 20–32.
Nishikawa J, Fitzpatrick R, Reimer J, Beaman R, Yamamoto H, Lindsay D (2011) In situ observation of Denise’s pygmy seahorse Hippocampus denise associated with a gorgonian coral Annella reticulata at Osprey Reef, Australia. Galaxea 13:25-26