Uni of Tasmania in last ditch effort to save the red handfish

The critically endangered red handfish, found only on waters off Tasmania, has a better chance of survival thanks to a $1 million grant to the University of Tasmania.

The critically endangered red handfish. Photo: Jemina Stuart-Smith

The critically endangered red handfish, found only on waters off Tasmania, has a better chance of survival thanks to a $1 million grant to the University of Tasmania to help bring it back from extinction.

It is estimated that only about 100 adult red handfish remain in the wild.

But accounts from divers over the past century indicate that the unique species, which walks rather than swims, was once far more widespread in waters east and south of Tasmania.

The $1m grant has come from the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME) and will go to the university’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies over the next four years.

The red handfish’s habitat has been reduced by several factors, including overgrazing of sea grasses by sea urchins, as well as pollution, other disturbances and siltation.

Today the species is very vulnerable because only small fragmented populations remain. The red handfish move by “walking” on the sea floor, less than 30 metres annually, and scientists presume that they have low genetic diversity.

Some of the funding from FAME will go to a “school” where captive-raised red handfish will be “taught” to fend for themselves in the wild, before being released.

IMAS researcher Andrew Trotter, who co-leads the captive program, said the money would allow them to establish a dedicated team for the project, housing the fish in captivity and breeding them.

“One of the questions that FAME’s funding will help answer is whether the species can be moved to new areas and so establish what we call ‘insurance’ populations,” he said.

Jemina Stuart-Smith who heads the Handfish Conservation Project at IMAS, said there was an imminent threat to the species’ survival.

“We are extremely grateful to FAME for the funding commitment at this critical point in what is an ongoing and demanding conservation project,” Dr Stuart-Smith said.

FAME chief executive Tracy McNamara, said the foundation was delighted to partner in a project that had a strong chance of preventing a species from becoming extinct.