H5N1 avian influenza has been detected in wild birds along the Victorian coast, including near the Otways. The risk to people remains low, but a disease event like this can ripple through marine food webs in ways we need to be watching for. Here's how OMER is responding, and why our ongoing monitoring matters more than ever, including detailed safety protocols going out to volunteers ahead of November's survey season.

The Otways Marine Ecosystem Resilience (OMER) Initiative continues to gather momentum, with several exciting funding successes helping expand the program from long-term ecological monitoring into community-led stewardship and conservation action.