Christopher Surman

I'm Chris Surman and for the past 30 years I have been studying breeding seabirds at the Houtman Abrolhos - helping to unlock the secret lives of seabirds that breed on the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, one of Australia’s most significant seabird breeding sites. Most of this research has been self-funded. Now, with your help, I hope to raise funds to continue this work that is helping us to conserve the species that inhabit these special islands during this time of biodiversity loss and climate change.

Learning more about these fragile birds will help us better understand and protect them - something that's more important than ever given the ever-increasing numbers of people visiting their island homes.

The Houtman Abrolhos are a group of 195 islands that form the southernmost coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, 60km west of Geraldton on the mid-west coast of Western Australia. Here, southward flowing tropical currents meet cooler waters and an eclectic mix of both tropical and temperate animals and plants live side by side. These islands contain some of the largest and most significant seabird breeding islands in Australia, with well over a million seabirds from 14 species nesting here. Of these, the threatened Lesser Noddy is found only here.

The Houtman Abrolhos lie off the mid-west coast of Western Australia.

Early days (1993) camping on Pelsaert Island at the old Guano Loading Ramp.

(L) Houtman Abrolhos are surrounded by coral reefs. (R) The Shack or Research Base (Blue camps to the left), perilously close to high tide.

Since 1991 I have spent several months each year studying the seabird community at the Houtman Abrolhos. The information that I gathered about the Lesser and Brown Noddies, Sooty Terns, Crested Terns, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Bridled Terns provided new understanding of the relationship between when seabirds breed and how successful they are in relation to the Leeuwin Current. Importantly, the Leeuwin Current is heavily influenced by El Nino, an oceanographic phenomenon that starts in the mid Pacific Ocean, a very long way from here! The frequency of El Nino events is increasing due to climate change impacts, which then increases the number of years when there is breeding failure related to lower delivery of prey to the Houtman Abrolhos.

(L) Lesser Noddies are found only at the Houtman Abrolhos, and we band the birds to follow them from year to year. (Centre) The first Lesser Noddy tracked, we named her Lisa. (R) A 1.6 g GPS from PathTrack in the UK.

Recently, our use of trackers supported by a Pozible Crowdsource campaign in 2020 helped us to identify key foraging areas for these seabirds.  This information is now going to be used in a review of the federal marine parks that lie west of the islands.

My work extends to identifying and removing plastics in the nests of seabirds, monitoring visitor impacts on breeding seabirds and working with the local community and managing agencies to ensure that these islands are protected for the unique seabird community that calls them home.

Incredibly, some of these birds, weighing less than 350g may travel from Shark Bay to near Perth during a single foraging trip! 

(L) Our first tracks showed that Lesser Noddies (red and green) forage in different areas to Brown Noddies (yellow). (R) Pelagic seabirds like noddies feast on tiny larval fishes, shrimp and squids.

The Indian Ocean is experiencing some of the most rapid warming of any oceans and is predicted to continue do so. As a consequence, our studies have shown that noddies, bio -indicators of climate change, are breeding later, are less successful and so are more vulnerable to any other risks to their survival. Our initial tracking has identified critical foraging locations of the Lesser Noddy. We now hope to gather data for other comparable species over several years in order to determine what the foraging location and length of time spent foraging impacts prey supply, and how that will impact the species in the future with a changing Indian Ocean.

If you care about the loss of biodiversity on our planet and have a desire to do something to assist in creating solutions, please contribute and receive one of our valuable rewards, including both the New Edition as well as the unreleased hardcover version of my book Houtman Abrolhos: A Natural History. This book contains hundreds of photographs, maps and in-depth information for all key species, written for anyone who has an interest in natural history, wildlife photography, island ecosystems and conservation. It has had fantastic reviews and you can find these at my website here https://www.halfmoonbiosciences.com/

There are also books, T shirts and Stickers for sale and some of our research papers.

(Top) Front cover (Bottom) Back cover of the hardcover version of Houtman Abrolhos: A Natural History new and revised.  There are also 20 of the first edition hardcover available during this campaign.

(Top) New T shirt designs available.

This invaluable conservation work has featured in this ABC TV National News bulletin ina January 2020 - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-12/scientist-dedicates-his-working-life-to-abrolhos-seabirds/11849806

as well as this mini documentary by renowned ABC film-maker, Samille Mitchell –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-QFQoWCr5s

Budget Overview

Conducting research 60 km offshore at the Houtman Abrolhos can be logistically and financially challenging. It is also essential to maintain industry standard Occupational Health and Safety requirements. Our research vessel Persephone, whilst modest, has been terrifically reliable. However after 18 years of service in this remote location it is time to revamp the existing, tired Honda 50 Hp main engine.  This will ensure continued safe operations out at the Houtman Abrolhos when travelling from base camp to Pelsaert Island, a journey of 12 km over shallow waters and reef every day. With the help of Dongara Marine and Bayside Marine in Geraldton, we are installing [LN1] a new, safer engine on Persephone to maintain our OHS requirements and high safety standards.

This independent and self-funded conservation research, and the data it generates, is used directly by both DPIRD and DBCA to inform management guidance at the Houtman Abrolhos. In addition, many articles have been published in international peer-reviewed journals to share these findings with the scientific community.  Each seabird breeding season requires almost $30,000 to keep this field project running, and the true costs, including in kind contributions, amounts to over $75,000 each year.  This season, 2023/24, is the first where we have been unable to secure any support to help support the costs of undertaking this invaluable research.  Your support will help ensure that this important conservation project continues into the future.

Funding sought 

Cost New Yamaha 70hp engine (50%)                                    $7,200.00

Other costs-self-funded & in kind

Labour (in kind)                                                                              $25,000.00

Volunteer Labour (in kind)                                                             $20,000.00

Vessel lifts Geraldton-Abrolhos (in kind)                                     $10,000.00

New Yamaha 70hp engine (50%)                                                  $7,000.00

Camp Maintenance, Water Tank                                                    $1,800.00

Field equipment                                                                               $2,000.00  

Travel costs                                                                                      $3,400.00

Camp supplies                                                                                 $3,200.00

Fuel costs                                                                                         $3,600.00   

TOTAL                                                                                            $76,000.00