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@kurtkrispyn University marine biologist
Science communicator/ Researcher
Host of the Worlds First Live Underwater Podcast
@paramountimportancepodcast

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This was our first anchorage in the Anambas, I love how the drone gives you a completely different perspective to when you are on or in the water. Seeing how the coral just fringes the islands and forms all these patterns is always bewildering but I keep coming back to the thoughts of how much we have changed these ecosystems. They have taken millions of years to form, making a perfect balance and harmony. Yet, in the space of a few decades we have completely changed it.

You know, in the whole time diving or flying the drone around I did not see one shark here. For anyone that has dived in the tropics you would understand that that's insane. I get mixed emotions seeing these places, first is "oh wow this is spectacular" and then changes to some pretty raw feelings of how we have destroyed a lot of its beauty.

I mentioned in an earlier post how I searched and searched for big fish and didnt see anything! The level of fishing is crazy there is not a space you dont see any form of fishing and if there isnt a boat, swimming around it isnt hard to find lost nets, anchors, traps or line.

Speaking to younger community members and the local NGO's they know this and are trying to make a difference, but changing practices are extremely hard especially it is how so many people depend on it to feed their families. They have been some of the most kind people I have met. I asked them what is the solution and everyone said the same thing, education. Teach the next generation and change will follow.

#sailing #drone #diving #Indonesia #science

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I’m incredibly grateful to have been named a finalist for the 2027 WA Young Australian of the Year.

It feels a little surreal to even write that.

So much of what has led to this point has come from opportunities I have been given by other people. Supervisors who backed me, colleagues and friends who have held the camera, thrown around ideas and helped bring them to life, organisations that supported ambitious projects, students who reminded me why science communication matters, and a team of people who have helped turn some pretty unlikely ideas into reality.

Over the past few years, I have been trying to find better ways to connect people with science and the natural world, through research, teaching, film, podcasting and projects like the world’s first live underwater podcast.

It is also funny how the world works. My very first podcast guest, Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi, has also been recognised as a finalist for the 2027 WA Senior Australian of the Year. A pretty special full-circle moment considering that conversation was right at the beginning of this whole journey.

To have this work recognised in this way is something I am very grateful for.

The final result is announced on 30 October, but regardless of what happens from here, I feel very lucky to be included alongside such an incredible group of people.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way.

#ausoftheyear #Australia #westernaustralia

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Beneath the waves, the Anambas is full of colour, texture and life.

Corals, anemones, small reef fish and all the little things you only notice once you slow down and really look.

There is something about blue space that resets you. Dropping below the surface, the noise disappears, everything slows down and your attention narrows to what is right in front of you.

Photography: @kurtkrispyn

#Anambas #UnderwaterPhotography #MarineLife #Freediving #BlueSpace

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Stunning seascapes, but the effects of humans are hard to miss.

We freedived across multiple islands and depths throughout the Anambas, and finding any sort of big fish was surprisingly difficult. Every now and then we would come across juveniles of heavily targeted species, but even those were few and far between.

The habitat is still there. The reefs are there. But the fish just aren’t.

Even when we thought we had found a remote anchorage, as soon as the last light disappeared you could hear the diesel engines slowly chugging away in the distance. Chug, chug, chug. Then the lights would start appearing around us, whether it was a bagan offshore or small boats netting the shallows through the night.

I would have loved to have seen this place when it was thriving. From the stories we heard from locals, it sounds like it was something pretty special.

Photography: @kurtkrispyn

#underwaterphotography #freediving #fishing #sailing #islands

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Live Underwater Podcast Interview | After Hours Event 🎤🤿

Join us from 5:30pm Thursday 19 November for a live underwater interview hosted by Kurt Krispyn with special guest, Dr Emily Lester!

From inside 3 million litres of sea water, @kurtkrispyn and Dr @emily_lester will share learnings, insights and marine life commentary, as guests watch and listen from AQWA's underwater tunnel, drink in hand 🥂

Then, ocean enthusiasts and devoted divers can hear more from the scientists and tech experts at the post-dive chat and Q&A session 🎤

Find out more and book now before tickets sell out 📲 Link in bio.

❗️Please note, this podcast will not be streamed live, however a recording will be shared to @paramountimportancepodcast after the event.

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Australia's First Live Underwater Podcast From Inside An Aquarium 🎙️🤿

Hosted by @kurtkrispyn, we're streaming live at 10am Thursday 19 November from inside the 3 million litre Shipwreck Coast exhibit, to serve up some science with a splash!

Marine scientist, educator and science communicator, Kurt, will join AQWA's very own Marine Biologist and Education Manager, Sasha Thompson, to share upclose insights and fun facts about the marine life swimming around them - and you can be a part of it!

Visitors at AQWA can watch on from the underwater tunnel, while classrooms and home streamers can tune-in LIVE via AQWA's YouTube channel 📺

Classrooms can even send in their curly marine life questions for Kurt and Sasha to answer from underwater 👀

Jump to the event page now to learn more and get involved 📲 Link in bio.

❗️Please note tunnel capacity is limited and viewing is not guaranteed.

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We hear magpies almost every day, but how much do we actually understand about what they are saying?

I spoke with Dr Stephanie Mason from the University of Western Australia about how magpies learn their calls, what different vocalisations mean, how young birds develop their voices and just how complex their communication can be.

Such a cool look at one of Australia’s most familiar birds.

Full episode out now on Paramount Importance.

#magpie #australianwildlife #birdscience #animalbehaviour #science

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Two very different ways of surviving in Borneo’s forests.

The Bornean keeled green pit viper (Tropidolaemus subannulatus) is an ambush predator equipped with infrared-sensitive pit organs, allowing it to detect the body heat of prey even in darkness.

The long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) sits at the other end of the behavioural spectrum, highly social, opportunistic and intelligent. Some populations have developed stone-tool use, cracking open shellfish and other hard-shelled prey, with these behaviours passed socially through groups.

Special to photograph two species with such completely different evolutionary solutions to the same forest.

Photos: @kurtkrispyn

#Borneo #BorneoWildlife #Evolution #AnimalBehaviour #WildlifePhotography

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Baby corals are not just drifting helplessly through the ocean.

Dr Damian Thomson explains that coral larvae have tiny hair-like structures called cilia, which allow them to move, test the reef, choose where to settle, and in some cases even pull back up and swim away again.
Before they build reefs, they have to find the right place to live.

Host: @kurtkrispyn
Guests: Dr Jenny Shaw, Western Australian Marine Science Institution and Dr Damian Thomson, CSIRO
Podcast: Paramount Importance
Footage: @terra_australis

#coralreef #coral #science #marinescience #reefscience

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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

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🌊 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 welcomes a beautiful ocean story from filmmakers @kurtkrispyn @nick.thake.photo.video @glassoffproductions @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 filmmaker via their bio
🌊 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.

Come curious. Leave a little more connected to the living ocean. Book now www.fuff.com.au Limited seats.

#FUFF2026 #HomeWaters #FremantleUnderwaterFilmFestival #OceanStories #OceanFilm

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A bleached reef can look beautiful at first, but what is happening underneath is devastating.

Dr Jenny Shaw describes diving at Nyinggulu after the marine heatwave and seeing corals fluoresce, turn white, and begin to be overtaken by algae.

Dr Damian Thomson explains that months later, some reef areas can feel almost unrecognisable, less colour, less movement, less sound, and far less living coral.

Host: @kurtkrispyn
Guests: Dr Jenny Shaw, Western Australian Marine Science Institution and Dr Damian Thomson, CSIRO
Podcast: Paramount Importance

#coralreef #ningaloo #coralbleaching #marinescience #reefregeneration

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