Research Voyages

A true test of coordination

Dr Peter Rothlisberg, packed and ready for his farewell voyage as chief scientist.

Dr Rothlisberg and his colleagues have fond memories of field trips aboard the RV Kalinda.

Peter Rothlisberg goes from soaking to multi-tasking in the gulf

Southern Surveyor's mission in the Gulf of Carpentaria will add a modern twist to a time-worn experience for chief scientist on the voyage, Dr Peter Rothlisberg.

His first foray to the gulf–upon joining CSIRO some 30 years ago–was aboard the RV Kalinda, a 20-metre wooden trawler built for the relatively sheltered environs of Moreton Bay. Dr Rothlisberg and his colleagues were teasing out the oceanographic influences on the growth, survival and dispersal of larval prawns, a factor central to understanding how prawn stocks fluctuate from year to year.

"We had four scientists and four crew members, and we used a compass and sextant for navigation," he says. "We'd need to call into port every week or two for supplies and fuel and in rough weather had to sleep in our wet weather gear because she leaked so badly."

While Dr Rothlisberg has lost count of his subsequent field trips to the gulf, he says most have been on small research and commercial vessels, and studied isolated aspects of prawn biology and their ecosystem.

"When we piece together what we know about the region, significant gaps remain in both the data and our understanding," he says. "Information has been gathered at different times and places, from different boats of different capacities. So it's difficult to know what may be normal for the system, or to recognise any signs of change."

It's a far cry from the capabilities of the Southern Surveyor, which will sample biology, geology and physics simultaneously on this 30-day voyage to prawn fishing grounds in the south-west corner of the gulf. Dr Rothlisberg is enthusiastic at the prospect of probing the marine environment from all angles, and the great advances in scientific understanding it promises.

"On this voyage we'll be sampling the marine environment more comprehensively and systematically than ever before: ocean currents, water column, atmospheric conditions, sediments, flora and fauna, and the ecological processes that connect them," he says. "It's the epitome of multi-tasking, and the result will be a much better understanding of seabed habitats, and an improved ability to detect and predict change."

And multi-tasking is something Dr Rothlisberg will be doing much of. His job as chief scientist involves coordinating the activities of 11 scientific staff onboard the ship and their various devices, ensuring smooth implementation of a sampling strategy covering more than 100 locations.

"There's a team sampling what lives in the sediments, a team sampling what lives on the sediments, a team looking at the physical characteristics of the sediments, and a team looking at what ecological processes drive the system," he says. "I also liaise with the skipper and voyage manager to ensure that scientists, technicians and crew understand each others' needs and are working in harmony."

Dr Rothlisberg's own "hands-on" role on the voyage will be to help Griffith University ecologist Dr Michele Burford investigate the nutrient sources and biological productivity in the sediments.

"Productivity in the sediments is the basis of the food chain that feeds the prawns in the gulf, but it hasn't been widely studied," he says. "We'll compare and contrast productivity and nutrient cycles in intensively trawled and lightly trawled areas, and seek clues to the origins of the nutrients that drive the system. Are they from river systems, or are they stored in the sediments, and if so how are they released and utilised?"

It all sounds fairly daunting, but with a wealth of experience under his belt, and plans afoot for retirement this year, Dr Rothlisberg is sanguine about the challenging weeks ahead.

"It's ironic to have begun and ended my career at CSIRO on a ship in the Gulf of Carpentaria, but it's been an exciting voyage," he says.

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Updated: 29/03/07