SEAHORSE populations in Port Stephens are in peril according to Dave Harasti, prompting the marine scientist to call on the community to help him understand why.
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As part of his PhD through University of Technology, Sydney, between 2006 and 2010 Mr Harasti, now a research scientist with the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park, studied the seahorse populations around Nelson Bay.
"There were mainly two seahorse populations in Port Stephens with about 200 to 300 seahorses in them," he said. "Now there are less than 30."
Seahorses are a protected species in NSW.
Mr Harasti chose seahorses as his PhD subject to find out more about the little-known creatures.
In Port Stephens, seahorses were found near the pipeline at Nelson Bay breakwall and the foreshore beach.
So popular were the seahorse populations off the beach prior to 2010 it was nicknamed Seahorses Gardens.
"In 2009 I was finding on average 20 seahorses a dive at the pipeline dive site and [last] Saturday I only found one after searching the entire site.
"Same as Seahorses Gardens. "I could once find 20 plus, but only found three last weekend."
Mr Harasti has launched the Search for a Seahorse project in conjunction with UTS to try and gain an understanding of how much the seahorse populations have declined and what could be causing their disappearance.
He is seeking input from the dive community, asking anyone who sees a seahorse to document where, and photograph it.
To contact Mr Harasti head to daveharasti.com or email dave@daveharasti.com.