Into the Unknown: Exploring the Great Australian Bight

In late November 2025, the team, in collaboration with Parks Australia, was awarded a grant to explore marine biodiversity in marine parks in The Bight region and successfully completed the scientific expedition in April.

There’s something special about heading somewhere few people have studied, into deep, uncharted waters and with the anticipation of discovery.

That’s exactly what DEW’s recent two-week expedition aboard SA’s premier liveaboard research vessel MRVNgerin into the Bight offered: a rare opportunity to explore one of Australia’s most remote and least understood marine environments.

About the mighty Bight

The Great Australian Bight is vast, covering an area twice the size of Victoria and stretches from depths of 50 metres near coastal cliffs to up to abyssal depths of 5000 meters offshore. This dynamic and sometimes harsh environment is characterised with rough weather and an average swell of four metres. Out there you can’t hide, in fact, the team spent the first nine days steaming from one site to the next without anchoring.

A first for Marine Park monitoring

The Bight is afforded various levels of protection by marine parks from both the state (SA Marine Parks) and Commonwealth (Parks Australia). These marine parks provide areas to protect breeding and calving areas for whales as well as zones that prohibit fishing. Monitoring the biodiversity in these remote marine parks is extremely difficult and prior to this expedition, had never been done before.

The expedition

The expedition team, led by DEW, included five MRVNgerin crew from the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI); three marine scientists from DEW; and three researchers from Flinders University. Together, the researchers set out to document the fish, shark and ray assemblages of these far Bight state and commonwealth marine parks filling a major national knowledge gap in marine biodiversity thus achieving a milestone for marine conservation in Australia.

Before setting sail, rangers from the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation were invited to meet us on the MRVNgerin for a tour of the vessel and to discuss our upcoming expedition. Their deep knowledge and connection to Sea Country set the tone for the trip and they showed great interest to take part in future nearshore marine science surveys.

The objective of this partnership between Parks Australia, SARDI, Flinders University, Deakin University and DEW was to document the habitats and species present in these marine parks providing vital information for the management and protection of these areas.

Executing the plan

Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVS) and environmental DNA (eDNA) were used to survey the area. Over the course of the expedition, we deployed 126 BRUVS across both Commonwealth National Park Zone and South Australian Sanctuary Zone. One of the standout sites was near the towering Bunda Cliffs, where the footage revealed an impressive abundance of elasmobranchs, including gummy sharks, eagle rays, and fiddler rays.

To complement the BRUVS work, the eDNA sampling, detects genetic material left behind by organisms in the water. We collected 56 water samples from both the surface and bottom across our study sites to filter for genetic material. This method will help us verify what we observed on camera and, perhaps more importantly, reveal species that passed by unnoticed. We will collaborate with Deakin and Flinders Universities to access the most up to date eDNA libraries hopefully increasing our detection of species.

What early findings show

Some the preliminary results are already exciting. We’ve identified areas of reef, sand and shell rubble and sponge-dominated habitats, adding valuable new information to this region. As we continue analysing the footage, there’s even the possibility of discovering species not previously recorded in the area and improving our understanding of the distribution of species from both SA and WA.

Another highlight of the trip was visiting Nyuts Reef, west of Ceduna, where two leading white shark researchers successfully tagged six great white sharks. These tags use acoustic technology and GPS locations to provide crucial insights into one of the ocean’s most iconic predators movement patterns.

Life aboard the Ngerin was as much about resilience as it was discovery: long days, shifting seas and the constant rhythm of deployment and retrieval. Every deployment of a camera and every sample collected brought us closer to uncovering the secrets held deep in the Bight.

The expedition was extremely successful. As we begin our reporting process with the evidence collected, we reaffirm the importance of these protected areas in supporting the existence of diverse species, habitats and all the biodiversity that calls these places home.

This research was supported by a grant of sea time from the Southern Coastal Research Vessel Fleet, with funding from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). Parks Australia partly funded this marine expedition. Thank you to our project partners without them this research would not be possible: The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), a division of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA); Deakin University; and Flinders University.