IMAS receives vital funding for endangered Red Handfish species

The Foundation for Australia's Most Endangered Species (FAME) committed just over $1 million over four years to the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) to help bring the Red Handfish back from the brink of extinction.

Research fellow at IMAS and head of the Handfish Conservation Project Jemina Stuart-Smith, said the funding allowed them to put more people on the ground and progress their handfish breeding efforts.

"It's also supporting jobs in science, we've already appointed two researchers as well as a senior technical officer," she said.

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Dr Stuart-Smith said they were still unsure as to why the handfish population had reached such low numbers.

"Historically they were much more widespread, but in recent times have been whittled down to two small populations in Frederick Henry Bay," she said.

"We think the key issue is that these two sites are actually centered around habitat loss and degradation."

She said they had observed significant increases in a native urchin.

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"It feeds on the seaweed, so it's essentially removing habitat that the handfish need," she said.

Through their conservation efforts, Dr Stuart-Smith said previously they collected handfish eggs from the wild, hatched them in captivity and released them.

"The idea from doing that is that while you have the young animals in captivity, you're protecting them from things like predation, pollution or adverse environmental conditions, so that you have greater survival of juveniles," she said.

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"The next step now is to breed them in captivity and we actually had our first successful captive breeding event late last year."

She said there were difficulties in breeding such a small population.

"A small population means everything that we do is really high risk," Dr Stuart-Smith said.

"We know parts of their biology and ecology, but there's lots of information that's still missing; there's just no room for error."

Dr Stuart Smith said she loved how the Red handfish were underdogs.

"They're this weird little creature that has no economic value and it's not something that's cute and fluffy, so it doesn't get a whole lot of attention," she said.

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"I guess I like that aspect of it, but for me part of it is just that sense of responsibility. I've been involved in the diving for a number of years and seen the habitat and species decline and realize that we're in a position to help and and we've created a team around that."

Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Fiona Fraser said the Red Handfish was one of 110 species prioritised for recovery under the Australian Government's Threatened Species Action Plan.

"This new funding, combined with the captive rearing and habitat restoration activities we have previously supported, is giving the critically endangered Red handfish a lifeline," Dr Fraser said.

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