The two-day forum, organised by Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre, culminated with a live discussion with crew members aboard the CSIRO’s state-of-the-art marine research vessel.

The vessel trawls up to 4000m deep along the sea floor, undertaking deep sea oceanography off Australia’s east coast for the first time. 

Scientists showed the audience marine life such as newly discovered species of coral, sea spiders, sponges, blind fish, sea cucumbers and dragon fish.

The weekend also included presentations from an array of guest speakers on this year’s theme ‘Marine Extremes: From the beach to the deep’.

Event coordinator Jillian Browning said it was an amazing weekend.

“I’ve always loved these weekends because I get to learn more about the different marine science that’s happening around the world, around Australia,” Ms Browning said.

“(It was) a really rare opportunity to see an amazing, giant sea spider. Hearing about all the research on our coral reefs and in Antarctica is really enlightening and makes me want to learn more.”

She said the live cross to RV Investigator, which will be off the coast of Narooma in September, was quite rare.

Topics covered across the two days included Antarctic waters, coal bleaching, heat on rocks, surviving depths and sea snail analysis.

Speakers comprised: freelance ecologist and marine science educator Matthew McArthur; Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Sydney Dr Maria Byrne; PhD candidate at Flinders University Mr Nathan Janetzki; honorary research associate at the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney, ​Dr John W. Runcie; and University of NSW and Sydney Institute of Marine Science Dr Iain Suthers.