Recently, our Seagrass Project Officer Alex Gibson had the opportunity to fly to Perth to attend a marine polychaete (worm) taxonomy course at Murdoch University, led by senior curators and scientists from the Australian Museum and Museums Victoria.

Participants learned how to recognise Australian marine worm families during a series of lectures and practical laboratory sessions, covering worm ecology, physical form and reproduction.

A lab full of worm expertise: Anna Murray and Chris Glasby (the Australian Museum), Andrew Hosie (Western Australian Museum), James Tweedey (Murdoch University), Elena Kupriyanova and Pat Hutchings (The Australian Museum), Ana Hara (Western Australian Museum), Robin Wilson (Museums Victoria). Photo: Alex Gibson.

Freshly collected and preserved specimens were provided, and ‘BYO’ worms were also welcomed! Alex brought along Broome’s common mudflat dweller, the green paddle worm. This worm is sometimes mistaken for Phyllodoce novaehollandia, however inspection of the worm’s throat organ revealed it was in fact P. malmgreni.

A green paddle worm in Roebuck Bay. Photo: Victoria de Bryun.

The training was an opportunity to expand networks, meet scientists and fellow worm enthusiasts, and gain skills in worm identification to enhance understanding of benthic ecosystems.

Making up around 70% of all the species of invertebrates living in the mud of Roebuck Bay, worms play a big part in the diet of our migratory shorebirds, as well as other predators such as crabs, molluscs and fish. Their high numbers and biomass support these higher levels of the food web, which allows energy to be transferred through the food chain and helps support the overall health and biodiversity of our marine ecosystems.

Terebellidae – found on coral reefs and within seagrass beds, often living within a hard tube. Here you can distinguish their curly red gills from their long feeding tentacles. Photo: Betty Yu, Murdoch University.

Next time you are exploring mudflats or reefs, take a closer look at our worm friends down there. You’ll start to notice the intricate details in worm forms and functions. As many species are still undescribed, there is much we are yet to learn about the diversity of worms under our footsteps!

Look at the long chetae (hairs) of this fire worm (family Amphinomidae). The name comes from the pain inflicted if you get one of these hairs on your skin! Photo: Alex Gibson.

While in Perth, Alex also attended a seagrass marine heatwave response working group meeting at Edith Cowan University. This was an opportunity for scientists, government, Traditional Owners and community groups from across WA to discuss how to coordinate responses in the event of marine heatwaves impacting seagrass.

Volunteers capture data on sea worms during seagrass surveys. Photo: Alex Gibson.

The meeting highlighted knowledge gaps around how Kimberley seagrasses might respond to marine heatwaves; for example, what is the highest temperature Kimberley species can withstand?

We look forward to learning more about ways of protecting our region’s seagrass meadows in this rapidly changing climate.

- Adapted from an article by Alex Gibson that first appeared in the December 2025 edition of EK News. 

Concerns are mounting in Broome about the threat to Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast from Woodside’s Browse Basin proposal for 50 oil and gas wells around the iconic marine biodiversity hotspot.

This morning a gathering of locals requested Kimberley Member of Parliament Divina D’Anna convey their concerns about the proposal to the WA Minister for the Environment Matthew Swinbourn and Premier Roger Cook.

“The community clearly doesn’t want Woodside’s damaging, risky, polluting project that would send most of the gas overseas. There’s only a downside to this proposal for West Australians and our globally significant coastlines,” said Martin Pritchard, Executive Director of Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley.

Broome residents gathered to voice concerns about Woodside’s Scott Reef plan. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

The proposal is under assessment by the WA EPA, and the Cook Labor Government is expected to make a decision in early 2026.

“Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast is a marine biodiversity jewel of the Indian Ocean and is one of Australia’s most important offshore oceanic reefs,” said Mr Pritchard. The reef is a haven for 900 species of fish, 300 coral species, 1,500 species of invertebrates and 29 species of marine mammals including the endangered pygmy blue whale. Sandy Islet, a sandy cay at Scott Reef, is the nesting ground of 1,000 genetically distinct green turtles, any damage to the islet could be catastrophic for the species. If oil and gas is extracted from underneath the reef, Sandy Islet is expected to sink and would no longer be suitable for green turtle nesting.

Locals hold handmade signs asking for protection of Scott Reef. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

“A major oil spill would be catastrophic for marine life at Scott Reef and we have a nearby example of the Montara oil disaster from 2009 which devastated the West Timor economy and seaweed farmers’ livelihoods. An oil spill of this magnitude is too much of a risk for Scott Reef and the Kimberley coast,” Mr Pritchard said.

The emissions from the Browse oil and gas project would be on a global scale at 1.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ according to Woodside’s reports. This would further fuel climate change which is devastating reefs globally, with the latest coral bleaching covering over 1,500km of the West Australian coast and reefs from Ashmore Reef to Ningaloo.

Our future is at stake: new alliance representing northern Australia calls for urgent action on National Climate Risk Assessment

A new conservation alliance has called for urgent action to phase out fossil fuel exports as today’s National Climate Risk Assessment shows that large areas of Australia’s north will become unlivable due to climate change.

Four groups, which have formed the Northern Australia Conservation Alliance, say Australia’s first National Climate Risk assessment confirms that Northern Australia risks being turned into a fossil fuel and climate sacrifice zone.

In a joint submission to the Senate Committee on the National Climate Risk Assessment, the groups say the global ecological and cultural treasure of northern Australia faces an existential threat from climate change within less than two generations.

The Climate Change Authority says based on current global commitments, the world is on track to see 2.9C of warming this decade. The report warns that under a +3.0°C scenario, there will be a 423% increase in heat-related mortality for Darwin compared to current conditions.

Wallabies in the Kimberley flood of 2023. Photo: Andrea Myers.

Recent research has found that much of Northern Australia could experience “near unlivable conditions” should global temperatures increase by around 3 degrees, and that this could become a reality within 40 years. These kinds of extreme conditions are currently found only in 0.8 percent of the planet, mostly in the Sahara.

Sea level rises could inundate large portions of Australia’s northern coastline and will have profound impacts on First Nations communities and their traditional connections to Country. One study previously demonstrated that over 50% of First Nations respondents to a survey in Arnhem Land would have to consider relocating in the future due to climate change.

The groups are holding the Inaugural Australia’s Great North conference in Garramilla / Darwin this week on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 September. The conference will include a keynote address from Peter Garrett AM on why Australia’s future will be decided in the north.

Martin Pritchard, Executive Director, Environs Kimberley said:

“This report is devastating news for the Kimberley. It is clear that if we don’t phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, then according to the science areas of the Kimberley will become uninhabitable. This could mean the end of more than 60,000 years of occupation by First Nations people in areas of the Kimberley, if they become climate change refugees and can no longer live on Country.”

“This is not just an environmental issue, it's a human rights issue and we’re calling on the Albanese government to act accordingly by refusing new gas proposals like fracking in the Kimberley and Northern Territory.”

“Places like the Kimberley’s Fitzroy Crossing which already has 67 days a year over 40°C will be unlivable if it gets to the projected seven and a half months over 40 by century’s end. The Kimberley will be like a place from a Mad Max movie, desolate, desert-like and devoid of people.”

Fitzroy Crossing bridge collapsing in the flood of 2023. Photo by Andrea Myers.

Kirsty Howey, Executive Director, Environment Centre NT said:

“This report confirms what we’ve all feared, that the Northern Territory is sleep-walking into an unlivable future due to climate change.”

“It’s hard to hear that the places we call home will no longer exist. We’re talking about whole communities being wiped out because politicians and gas companies see the north as a sacrifice zone."

“While the gas industry pushes ahead with some of its most polluting projects in the Territory, we’re heading for a future that is unlivable and unequal.”

“If we don’t change course, we could be the last generation to raise children in Darwin, which research shows will become unlivable due to climate change.”

“The data shows we simply can’t afford toxic projects like the Middle Arm gas hub, fracking in the Beetaloo, or plans for the world’s biggest carbon dumping project off Darwin.”

“Instead of taking responsible action, we’ve got a Territory government that’s embraced climate denial and cut our emissions and renewable energy targets.”

Alex Vaughan, Policy and Advocacy Officer, Arid Lands Environment Centre said:

“Communities like Mpartnwe - Alice Springs have just sweltered through one of its hottest years on record. In the last year we had more than three months of average temperatures over 39 degrees, so it’s hard to think it can get a lot worse.

"The human, environmental and economic costs of failing to act on climate change are incalculable in northern Australia.  The solutions to these climate crises must be led by communities in the north.”

Bronwyn Opie, Director, Cairns and Far North Environment Centre said:

“Cyclone Jasper showed us what this risk looks like for Far North Queensland — nearly two metres of rain fell over just a few days, power was cut to 40,000 people, and the entire community of Wujal Wujal had to be evacuated. This was followed by a heatwave, compounding the disaster and leaving communities to recover without power or cooling.”

Sign the petition to ban fracking in the Kimberley here.

More than 17,500 Australians have made submissions to the WA Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public comment period on Woodside’s controversial Browse gas project, calling for the rejection of the proposal to drill for gas around Scott Reef off WA’s Kimberley coast and pipe the gas to the North West Shelf export plant.

The remarkable national response from everyday Australians shows the proposal to drill over 50 oil and gas wells around the nation’s most important oceanic coral reef is completely out of touch with community expectations and should be scrapped. The WA EPA and Cook government must now reject Woodside's proposal and protect Scott Reef from industrialisation. The reef is already under severe stress from marine heatwaves caused by fossil fuel induced climate change, to industrialise and create more carbon pollution would see the end of this reef. 

Scott Reef. Photo: Nush Freedman.

The North West Shelf extension is still awaiting final federal approval.

The Conservation Council of WA, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Environs Kimberley and Greenpeace Australia together facilitated at least 17,500 community submissions to the WA EPA. 

 Environs Kimberley Martin Pritchard, Executive Director said: 

“The proposal to put 50 oil and gas wells, effectively industrialising one of Australia’s most sensitive oceanic coral reefs, is outrageous and completely out of step with community sentiment as demonstrated by the tens of thousands of public submissions that have been put in over the past 4 weeks on the minor amendments. 

“The community has stood up to Woodside’s industrialisation attempts before to protect the Kimberley coast at James Price Point and won. They don’t seem to have learned that lesson. We are not going to stand idly by and watch the oil and gas industry industrialise precious places like Scott Reef.

“The age of fossil fuels is over and we’re not going to allow Woodside and its joint venture partners BP, Mimi Browse and Petrochina to trash Scott Reef on the way out of the door.”

Sea snakes dancing at Scott Reef. Photo: Wendy Mitchell. 

 Conservation Council of WA Executive Director Matt Roberts said:

“Woodside’s revised Browse to North West Shelf Development proposal is an insult to the intelligence of West Australians.

"It fails to address the very real risks of oil spills, subsidence, and it increases  carbon emissions while exporting gas for private profits. The threats to the pristine ecology and the endangered pygmy blue whale, green sea turtle and dusky sea snake remain.

“The EPA made the preliminary decision to reject the Browse project because of threats to nature which have not and cannot be adequately addressed by Woodside. Alongside marine experts, we are of the firm view that the EPA should reject the revised proposal.”

Australian Conservation Foundation Climate Campaigner Piper Rollins said:

“You can’t put lipstick on a pig. The extraordinary community outrage over Browse demonstrates the total lack of social licence for Woodside’s Burrup Hub, including the controversial and still to be formally approved North West Shelf extension.

“Not only would this proposal harm Scott Reef and the many marine animals that live there, but it’s the same gas that would damage the 50,000-year-old Murujuga rock art if Woodside is allowed to build a 900-kilometre underwater pipeline to export the gas from its North West Shelf plant. 

“Woodside’s Browse proposal is incompatible with a healthy environment, a safe climate and the protection of the Murujuga rock art. Woodside knows it and the WA EPA knows it. This proposal should be unequivocally rejected.”

Scott Reef. Photo: Alex Westover.

Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) Fossil Fuel Campaign Manager, Louise Morris said: 

“More than 5,000 of our supporters added their name to our submission to the WA EPA to reject this proposal as of 5pm on the submission closing date. Adding their name to our concerns about the impacts of seismic blasting on marine life such as krill and the endangered pygmy blue whale that rely on the Scott Reef ecosystem and upwellings. 

“The WA EPA had already found the Browse proposal poses unacceptable risks to endangered pygmy blue whales, the green sea turtle and other threatened marine species; these minor  amendments do nothing to fix that.”

Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:

“Woodside’s revised plans are merely tinkering at the edges of what is a fundamentally problematic proposal, which fails to address the risk of subsidence at Sandy Islet, and hinges on a yet to be proven technology to mitigate the risk of a major oil spill — it is incompatible with the protection of the fragile Scott Reef.

“It’s unthinkable today that we would allow a multinational fossil fuel company to drill for gas on the Great Barrier Reef — we must not accept this at Scott Reef, home to vibrant coral, threatened species like pygmy blue whales and a critical green sea turtle rookery.

“Time and time again, Woodside has demonstrated it can’t be trusted with our oceans."

 Background on the process: 

The public comment period was in response to Woodside’s s.43A application to revise the Browse to North West Shelf Development, in response to the WA EPA forming a preliminary view in February 2024 that it would reject the project due to “unacceptable” risks to the environment, including threats many listed threatened species such as the Pygmy Blue Whale, Green Turtle and Dusky Sea Snake. 

The EPA will first make a decision on whether to accept the proposed amendments or not. They will then undergo a separate process to develop a report and recommendation to the WA Cook Government on whether Browse should proceed or not. It is expected that the EPA will accept the proposed revisions, but this will not be a decision about approval of the project or not.  

The Browse to North West Shelf Development  proposal traverses both State and Federal waters and will also require approval from the Australian Government under the EPBC Act.

The collaboration of environment groups and high profile Australians, resulting in 20,000 submissions, highlights the unabated risks to the environment and climate and widespread call for the rejection of the Browse to NWS proposal. 

• Scott Reef photos and other media assets are available via this link. 
• Photos and video from the National Day of Snap Action can be found here.
• Photos from the 2025 Woodside AGM protest can be found here.

The WA Government has quietly approved a groundwater extraction licence that would allow an overseas-based fracking company to take 100 million litres of groundwater each year.

While the state’s water department (DWER) approved Black Mountain Energy’s water licence on May 2, no public statement was issued, and the only way to find evidence of the licence’s approval is by searching the company’s Australian subsidiary, Bennett Resources, on the WA Government’s Water Register website.

The licence gives Black Mountain permission to access the groundwater for “the maintenance of unconventional gas wells, dust suppression, mining camp purposes, stock watering and rehabilitation purposes”.

However, the company’s “Valhalla” exploratory gas fracking project is still undergoing environmental assessment, and a public consultation process still needs to be conducted.

Dead duck in Buru Energy wastewater pond

If Valhalla is approved, Black Mountain would drill 20 exploration wells between 2 km and 4 km deep and hydraulically fracture them in up to 70 stages each. It would also require an additional two billion litres of groundwater.

Valhalla is also only an exploration project. Black Mountain’s website makes it clear the company wishes to expand to full scale production. If this occurs, it would require the drilling and fracking of many hundreds of wells. An export-scale project would also require a 1100km high-pressure gas pipeline to the Pilbara, processing facilities, pumping stations, flare stacks, and heavy-vehicle access roads. 

Mount Hardman Creek where Black Mountain oil and gas wants to drill and frack

Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard said, “If Black Mountain goes into full production with hundreds of wells, the volume of precious groundwater required would be unimaginable.

“This incremental threat of enormous levels of precious groundwater extraction shows why fracking must not be allowed to take-off in the Kimberley. 

“Fracking uses toxic chemicals that can pollute our clean water here in the Kimberley, why would we risk that?”

“Giving Black Mountain’s Valhalla Project the go ahead risks opening up the Kimberley to full-scale industrialisation by petroleum companies eager to get at the unconventional gas within the Canning Basin. This would ignite a carbon bomb, at a time when increasingly severe heat waves caused by the burning of fossil fuels and resulting climate change is putting the Kimberley at risk of becoming unliveable.”

Overflow at Buru Energy wastewater pond in the Kimberley

Read local media's reporting on the approval here.

The Kimberley $67.5 million resilience package announced today by the WA Premier fails to get to grips with the ruinously expensive costs of climate change, according to Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley.

The WA State Government's mid-term performance review in December revealed that the January 2023 floods in the Kimberley, induced by climate change, will cost taxpayers over $869 million. This extra $67.5 million brings the costs of climate change close to a billion dollars in just over a year.

Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard said:

“The Cook Government has described the Fitzroy Crossing floods as the worst in WA’s history but has yet to acknowledge that this is exactly what’s been predicted for the Kimberley with climate change. The amount of taxpayer funds going into climate change disasters is only going to increase — and we’re already looking at a billion dollars from 2023/4 alone.”

"Even as the impacts of climate change get worse, the Cook Government is sleepwalking into one of the biggest polluting industries in the world – oil and gas fracking – right here in the Kimberley.

Climate change scientists have estimated that if the oil-and-gas fracking industry in the Kimberley takes off, it could unleash three times Australia’s emissions of climate-changing CO2 into the atmosphere than our estimated emissions budget under the Paris Agreement[1].  

“The Premier Roger Cook is playing around the edges, while the Kimberley heads to becoming unlivable according to the climate modeling the WA Government itself uses.” [2]

“The Premier is pouring taxpayer money to fix up climate-change disasters, while at the same time allowing an oil-and-gas fracking industry to operate, which would produce globally significant climate-changing carbon pollution. This is wrong. If we want a resilient future, then these types of industries must be banned.”

Photo: Fitzroy River bridge, 2023 floods - Andrea Myers

[1] Climate Analytics Western Australia's gas gamble - implications of natural gas extraction in WA

[2] WA Government Western Australian Climate Change Projections (2021)

The WA state government's mid-term performance review has revealed that the January 2023 floods in the Kimberley will cost taxpayers over $869 million dollars. 

The announcement comes on a 45C day in Fitzroy Crossing. 

Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley (EK) is calling on the State and Federal governments to recoup the cost from fossil fuel companies who have made billions in profits over the past year, while driving worsening climate impacts. EK is also calling on the WA and Commonwealth governments not to approve new gas projects in the Kimberley, including proposals by Buru Energy and Woodside. 

EK Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard said, "The January 2023 floods have had a devastating impact on communities in the Kimberley’s Fitzroy Valley with many people losing all their possessions and homes. It’s now been revealed that this flood has come at a cost of what's likely to be over a billion dollars to taxpayers and private businesses. 

"The State and Federal governments need to recognise that fossil fuel-driven climate change comes at an enormous cost to communities, taxpayers, private businesses and the natural environment and we know what and whom is causing this – oil, gas and coal companies."

The revelation of the enormous cost of the flood comes on a 45C day in Fitzroy Crossing with the next 10 days predicted to be above 40C. Fitzroy Crossing will be unliveable in the next 50 years with CSIRO and BoM data projecting 225 days over 40C a year if we continue on the current emissions trajectory.

“Catastrophic climate events like floods and heatwaves have been predicted for years and now we are bearing the enormous costs of burning fossil fuels while oil and gas companies like Woodside make billions in profits. There’s something very wrong with this picture and it’s clearly not sustainable for the environment nor taxpayers.

“We are calling on governments to firstly stop the damage by preventing new fossil fuel projects like Buru Energy's Kimberley onshore gas proposal and Woodside’s offshore Browse project and second, to instigate a ‘Climate Change Disaster Levy’ on fossil fuel companies that can be used to plan for climate change disasters as well as fund recovery work.

"Woodside has put a measly $750k towards flood recovery while making billions in profits and wants to open up more gasfields that will fuel climate change for another 50 years. They are throwing spare change at Western Australians suffering from floods, heatwaves and fires while pocketing enormous profits for themselves. 

“We cannot open up any new oil and gas fields if we want a safe climate.”

Photo of Fitzroy Crossing bridge collapsing in 2023 flood: Andrea Myers

New research shows that the Kimberley region is set to experience a dramatic increase in days over 40 degrees if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced in line with the Paris Agreement.  

The report, by the Australia Institute using CSIRO and BoM data, shows the projected increase in extreme heat days for towns like Broome, Derby and Bidyadanga, will have devastating effects on the Kimberley’s Indigenous communities, outdoor workers, industries and ecosystems. 

The report shows that without a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions:

• Extreme heat days above 40°C could increase from an average of 6 days per year to 62 (2 months) by 2090 in Broome.
• Extreme heat days above 40°C could increase from an average of 14 days per year to 168 (5.6 months) by 2090 in Derby.
• Extreme heat days above 40°C could increase from an average of 10 days per year to 94 (3 months) by 2090 in Bidyadanga; the largest remote Aboriginal community in Western Australia.
• Extreme heat days above 40°C could increase from an average of 35 days per year to 204 (6.8 months) by 2090 in Kununurra.

“As things stand, a child in a town like Kununurra could expect over half their year spent in 40°C days or over by the time they can access a pension,” says Richie Merzian, Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program Director.

“Extreme heat conditions can have serious health ramifications, especially for the very young and the elderly, including heat stroke and even organ failure which can result in death.

“Also particularly vulnerable to the extreme heat will be miners, construction workers, tourism operators and agricultural workers, who are vital to the Kimberley economy, and often undertake heavy work in already hot conditions that are set to worsen severely.

“The region’s Indigenous population already face disproportionate rates of chronic illness and poverty, increasing extreme heat will mean people’s health will deteriorate further.

“Fortunately these climate projections are not inevitable, if emissions are reduced in line with the Paris Agreement, these increases in heat can be largely avoided.”

Martin Pritchard, Executive Director Environs Kimberley, says “Kimberley residents have just sweltered through one of the region’s hottest months, with temperatures 3.2 degrees above the historical November maximum temperature average, and 7 days above 40 degrees in Broome already this November alone. By 2090, the entire Kimberley region will be experiencing extreme heat of the likes we have not seen in Australia before.

“The Kimberley has one of Australia’s largest shale gas reserves and we now know that we cannot frack it and burn it if we want safe temperatures into the future. It has to stay in the ground if we want to avoid dangerous climate change.”

The report is available here:

HeatWatch - Extreme heat in the Kimberley

CALL ON THE MCGOWAN GOVERNMENT TO BAN FRACKING HERE