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Paramount Importance

@paramountimportance

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Science communication platform, sharing research as it happens.
"Change happens from inspiration, not instruction"
Podcast @paramountimportancepodcast

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Highlights of the World’s First Live Underwater Podcast hosted by @kurtkrispyn went to air on February 27th at 10am, broadcast directly from a seagrass meadow off Rottnest Island for World Seagrass Day.

Streaming live into more than 12 schools and reaching viewers across the globe, the conversation was all about shining a light on our vital seagrass ecosystems, raising awareness, sharing science, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible when research meets technology.

This milestone was made possible through the incredible innovation of Jason Maley, whose cutting-edge underwater system allows video, audio, and live streaming across platforms beneath the surface @connectingeyestooceans

An effort like this takes a remarkable team:
• Associate Professor Mike van Keulen — our seagrass expert and underwater guest
• Dr. James Tweedley — marine biologist and top-side host
• Kesia Savill — underwater camera
• Arianna Ardit — safety diver
• Ollie Loffelman — top-side camera
• Captain Trini Reynolds — skipper

Special thanks to Professor Jennifer Verduin for helping bring the vision to life, and Dr. Geoff Reynolds for lending his boat and stepping in when it mattered most.

And this is only the beginning. @_ryanchatfield has documented the entire journey, alongside @nick.thake.photo.video and Jacob Horan, capturing what will become a documentary of this special moment.

With the generous support of our major sponsors, @murdochuniversity and @westernaustralianmarinescience , we’ve shown what’s possible when passion, science, and community come together.

From the seafloor to the world — and we’re just getting started. by @paramountimportance

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7 months ago

Great research deserves to be seen and understood.

We’re offering dedicated video production for scientists, institutions and departments who want to communicate their work in an effective and engaging format.

Whether it’s documenting fieldwork, presenting research findings, producing short explainer videos, or capturing interviews for grants, outreach or publications. We help turn complex science into engaging visual stories.

With backgrounds in both marine and environmental science and professional filmmaking, we understand the challenges of working in the field and translating research into compelling media.

We aim to be the conduit for scientists to get their research to a broader audience. When people feel connected to knowledge, they care, and when they care, change follows.

If you have a project, expedition or study that would benefit from professional video coverage, we’d love to hear about it.

Enquiries via DM or email
#westernaustralia #marinebiology #science #ocean #film by @paramountimportance

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7 months ago

Read below:
All though the mean age has been relatively stable over time (mean age 10-12 years) the maximum age has significantly dropped, in 1990 the oldest fish was of 41 years, it dropped to 31 years in sampling between 2003-2006 and since 2014 from 4676 fish aged, near none or none (no max age values were given in the reports) were over the age of 25 years.

That is close to the oldest fish recorded in the last 10 years, only being just shy of half the age of the oldest Dhufish 35 years ago. The oldest human ever recorded lived to 122 years, so that is like saying the oldest human you can find now is ~60-70 years old.

Dhufish grow relatively quickly till about 12 years of age. At 2 years, their length is ~22 cm; at 5 years, ~42 cm; at 10 years, ~64 cm; at 15 years, ~80 cm; and at 20 years, ~89 cm. The age data show that the boom years were 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2010-11, only 2 boom years in the last 25 years are suggested to have occurred. #dhufish #fishingaustralia #westernaustralia #fishingban #snapper taken in Perth, Western Australia by @paramountimportance

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8 months ago

This is one of the coolest things I have seen a school do.

I spent a few days filming Albany Senior High School’s marine science program, which has been running for around 30 years. For three decades, students have been getting out into their local environment, learning about it firsthand and becoming the eyes and ears of the system.

It was incredible seeing students getting out of the classroom, onto the water and actually doing marine science, learning about their own backyard by being out there experiencing it.

This is the kind of program that builds a real connection with the environment and could inspire the next generation of marine scientists.

The full film will be out soon, and I can’t wait to share it.

Reel filmed, edited and presented: @kurtkrispyn

#science #fish #westernaustralia #albany #film by @paramountimportance

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6 days ago

The mangrove sea snake (Ephalophis greyae) is a small, highly specialised sea snake found in north-western Australia.

It lives around mangrove-lined creeks and intertidal mudflats, where it moves through the mud and burrows hunting small fish, particularly mudskippers and gobies.

Like other true sea snakes, they are venomous and belong to the elapid family, although relatively little is known about their venom and bites involving humans.
Mangrove systems can be tough places to live, but this snake is beautifully adapted to life between the land and sea.

Presented by: @kurtkrispyn
Edited by: @kellymulvay

#seasnake #mangroves #ningaloo #wildlife #australianwildlife by @paramountimportance

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13 days ago

The scale of the fires tearing through Borneo right now is crazy. Nothing like I have ever seen.

We saw the aftermath, huge areas where almost nothing is left, just cleared land. Many of these fires are deliberately and illegally lit to clear land for agriculture and plantations.

A lot of these forests grow on peat, layers of partly decomposed plant material that build up over thousands of years and are usually wet and waterlogged. The current El Niño has dried out the landscape, and once this peat catches fire it can burn underground for weeks, making these fires incredibly difficult to stop.

The whole ecosystem here is going through unprecedented change, and not for the good.

Among all of this we spent time with the orangutans of Tanjung Puting National Park. Many here are semi-wild, rehabilitated orangutans that now live freely in the forest. They can receive supplementary food once a day, but during fruiting season many don’t even turn up, they’re finding enough food naturally in the forest.

Seeing what is happening here feels like a canary in the coal mine, a warning of what increasingly hot, dry conditions and a strong El Niño can mean for ecosystems, including parts of Australia as we head towards summer.

#orangutan #borneo #tanjungputing #wildlife #conservation by @paramountimportance

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14 days ago

Octopuses are some of the most remarkable animals in the ocean.

With three hearts, blue blood and eight arms capable of exploring their surroundings almost independently, they are built very differently to us.
But perhaps most impressive is their behaviour. Octopuses can solve problems, explore objects, learn from their environment and rapidly change their colour and appearance to communicate, camouflage themselves or respond to what is happening around them.

The more you learn about an octopus, the stranger they become.

Presented: @kurtkrispyn
Edited: @kellymulvay

#octopus #marinebiology #oceanlife #wildlife #oceanscience by @paramountimportance

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17 days ago

Mudskippers are fish that seem to have forgotten they’re supposed to stay in the water.

Found across tropical mangroves and mudflats, these incredible amphibious fish spend much of their time out of water, moving across the mud using their modified pectoral fins, defending territories and even interacting with each other on land.

Watching a fish move across land, disappear into a burrow and then pop back out of the mud is a pretty incredible reminder of just how diverse and adaptable fish can be.

A huge thank you to Penelope @petaira for all the information and plenty of laughs in the field!

Presented: @kurtkrispyn
Edited: @kellymulvay

#mudskipper #marinebiology #fish #wildlife #oceanscience by @paramountimportance

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20 days ago

When scientists looked at what they eat, they found they often had just one fish in their stomach. But that one fish was usually a large meal.

They are not just eating one fish because that is all they can find. Their diet seems to be shaped by energy. One large prey item gives them a high return, reduces how often they need to hunt, and may even reduce competition with other harlequin fish.

Interestingly, their diet was linked more strongly to prey size than prey family. So they are not just targeting one type of fish, they are targeting the right-sized fish they can overpower and swallow.

Their colours also tell a story. Juveniles and females have yellow spots, but as males mature, those spots shift through green and become blue. During the spawning season, that blue can intensify, likely playing a role in courtship or competition between males.
So behind the colour is a predator shaped by energy, timing, and reproduction.

From what we know, harlequin fish do not appear to be under heavy fishing pressure, but they also have not had the same level of stock assessment as our major fisheries.

Filmed, scripted & edited: @kurtkrispyn

#fishfacts #greatsouthernreef #marinescience #coraltrout #australianmarinelife by @paramountimportance

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3 months ago

Just recently I had the amazing opportunity to speak at the United Nations Youth Conference to an amazing group of young curious minds.

The questions they asked were some of the most thought provoking questions I have ever been asked. Myself and Josie, @mylittlebigyear , had a great discussion for over an hour.

I was blown away, when I was at that age the topics we discussed werent something that was on my radar at the time. It is extremely inspiring to hear so many young passionate students driven to make change. We live in a world now that is constantly filled with bad news and very little solutions. It brings a lot of hope knowing that our communication and willingness to learn and share from different fields is a big focus for the future.

A strong belief of mine is change happens from inspiration, not instruction and this event was something that I felt believed in that too.

Big thanks to @annabelpark_ for being a great host and getting this to happen. taken in Perth, Western Australia by @paramountimportance

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2 months ago

I was incredibly grateful to be named a finalist in the WA Young Achiever Awards’ Create Change Award.

While I didn’t take home the award, the nomination gave me a chance to reflect on what so many people have helped build.

The goal has never been recognition. It has been to create a stronger connection between science and the community, to help research move beyond academic journals and reach the people it can inform, inspire and benefit.

Over the last 12 months, that mission has taken many forms: filming science as it happens, hosting conversations with leading researchers, producing documentaries, speaking in schools/ community events, doing an Ironman to raise funds and volunteer with Fishability, hosting our first live podcast and delivering the world’s first live underwater podcast into classrooms across Australia and people around the world. The Paramount Importance podcast is booming and has now reached listeners in 99 countries, while the research teams I work alongside continue publish important knowledge through scientific papers and reports.

None of this happens alone. It is built by scientists willing to share their knowledge, filmmakers and editors who bring stories to life, educators who open their classrooms, organisations that support new ideas, and every person who watches, listens, asks questions or shares the work.

We are trying to build something that makes science familiar, accessible and part of everyday conversation.

Because when people feel connected to knowledge, they care, and when they care, change follows.

Thank you to everyone who is part of this journey. There is still so much more to do, and I'm more excited than ever for what's ahead.

Because I've always believed that change happens from inspiration, not instruction. by @paramountimportance

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3 months ago

🌊 HOME WATERS. OCEAN STORIES. BIG SCREEN.

What makes a place feel like home?

The waters we swim in. The species we share them with. The places we return to. And the stories that help us notice what has been there all along.

This year, FUFF @fuwff welcomes a beautiful ocean story from filmmakers @kurtkrispyn and @nick.thake.photo.video and @paramountimportance to the big screen as part of HOME WATERS — FUFF 2026.

Through the eyes of ocean storytellers, familiar waters can become extraordinary again — revealing lives, relationships and wild places we might otherwise pass by.

Because knowing our home waters is part of learning to care for them.

🎥 Meet the filmmakers via the bio in carousel
🌊 Discover the story at the festival
🐟 Celebrate the living ocean we call home

Fremantle Underwater Film Festival — HOME WATERS
📅 2–4 October 2026
📍 Cockburn Memorial Hall

Three nights of ocean stories from WA and around the world.

Thanks to our venue sponsors @cityofcockburn Our event sponsors @blueback.freediving.yoga Our philanthropic donors, our local business and community supporters @reefcraftptyltd @oceanremedy @gwhizzo @saveourmarinelifeaus @sam.adams.art @lookingforwhales @mermeow.awn @fred_under_water @ralfrauker @cityoffremantle and our team of community volunteers who help make it all happen led by @taniadouthwaite and our marine conservation supporters @marineconservation.au and ocean outfitters @adreno_official

Come curious. Leave a little more connected to the living ocean.

#FUFF2026 #HomeWaters #FremantleUnderwaterFilmFestival #OceanStories #OceanFilm taken in Cockburn Memorial Hall by @paramountimportance

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