#178 Building Hotels for an Endangered Icon: Inside Sydney's Seahorse Conservation Project with Mitch Brennan

Sydney's iconic White's seahorse is in trouble. Habitat loss has pushed this endemic species, found nowhere else on Earth onto Australia's endangered list.But at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, marine scientist Mitch Brennan and his team are fighting back with one of the most charming solutions in conservation: the seahorse hotel.In this episode, Mitch explains how these metal reef structures work, why male seahorses give birth, and how a three-pronged strategy of captive breeding, artificial habitat, and natural restoration is giving White's seahorses a fighting chance in Sydney Harbour.He also shares how school kids are designing their own hotels, complete with rope disco balls, and how you can contribute sightings from your next dive to help monitor these incredible animals.If you've ever wanted to check in to a seahorse hotel, this is the episode for you.Get InvoledSydney Seahorse Project: https://sims.org.au/research/flagship-programs/the-gamay-initiative/project2-4-5/Project Humble School Group: https://projecthumble.com.au/Hong Kong Seahorse Project: https://www.lcf.gov.hk/filemanager/content/conservation/RE-2024-07-ENG.pdfHandfish Project: https://handfish.org.au/NSW DPIRD logging: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/species-protection/report-a-threatened-species-formIf you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.