Gergo Rugli Recapture the Rapture Bottlenose dolphin Bronte Beach copy.jpg

SYDNEY COAST MARINE BIOBLITZ

CREDIT: Gergo Rugli

March 1 - 31, 2025 within the Sydney Coast Hope Spot

Taking place over the month of March, the Sydney Coast Hope Spot Marine BioBlitz is an exciting new community event brought to you by Sydney Coast Hope Spot Champions from the Ocean Lovers Festival and Underwater Earth.

This annual event is designed to celebrate the marine biodiversity of the Sydney Coast Hope Spot region whilst supporting marine education and science initiatives.

Whether you're a seasoned marine biologist or just a curious citizen scientist, we need as many ocean lovers as possible, during the month of March, to join over this initiative, observing and collecting important biodiversity data of local marine species above and below the water.

Find and photograph animal and plant species in the area of your choice, from inter-tidal zones, rock pools, estuaries and open ocean and then upload them to iNaturalist. It's as simple as that. Happy snapping!

Download iNaturalist App

CREDIT: Brett Lobwein

The Marine Bioblitz is taking place within the Sydney Coast Hope Spot, which is the coastal region from Newcastle south to Wollongong, also known as the Hawksbury Shelf Bioregion. It is a month-long period of biological surveying that aims to record as many living species observations as possible within the region.

Your biological survey can be done anywhere in the region, at any time, as often or as little as you like. The survey location is your choice; above and/or below the water, along beaches in the inter-tidal zones, rock pools, estuaries, near shore and open ocean. Simply photophotograph as many different animal and plant marine species as possible and record them onto the designated iNaturalist project page (coming soon).

Every observation you supply can contribute to biodiversity science. iNaturalist shares your findings with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use your data. All you have to do is observe and record.

SIMPLE STEPS TO FOLLOW:

Download the iNaturalist app.
Join the Sydney Coast Hope Spot Marine BioBlitz iNaturalist Project page (coming soon).
Decide if you want to do your surveying alone, with your family or friends, your school class or if you want to join a local Marine Bioblitz group (see below).
Find animals and plants in marine and coastal habitats, take photos of your sightings and upload to the iNaturalist project page.

ESTABLISHING YOUR OWN MARINE BIOBLITZ GROUP:

You may wish to form your own local Marine Bioblitz group within the Sydney Coast region. Fantastic! We simply ask that you:

Contact the Ocean Lovers or Underwater Earth team so we can add your details below and promote your group so that those interested may join you.
If you wish to create your own iNaturalist project page, we ask that your observation data is made 'open source', so that data can integrate with the other Sydney Coast data collected during the Sydney Coast Hope Sport Marine Bioblitz.

JOINING A LOCAL MARINE BIOBLITZ GROUP:

As we get closer to the Festival in March, we will be adding local Marine Bioblitz group details here. So come back here for more information.