This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub project "Mapping temperate continental shelf seabed habitats". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Rocky reefs on Australia's temperate continental shelf support diverse ecological communities, including corals, sponges, mobile invertebrates, fish, and marine mammals. These habitats underpin important natural, economic, and cultural values and are subject to pressures from fishing, shipping, and climate change. Rocky reefs are key features of many Australian Marine Parks (AMPs), and improving knowledge of their extent and condition is essential for effective management and evaluation of conservation outcomes - particularly in offshore areas where seafloor habitat data is limited. This project addressed knowledge gaps on the extent and distribution of seabed habitats by focusing on rocky reef systems within the South-west and South-east Marine Parks Networks. It built on previous research from the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub by collating and analysing existing seafloor data, and deploying drop cameras at priority sites (selected in consultation with Parks Australia and other end-users) to validate seafloor habitat extent and type. This new survey data was incorporated with newly developed data workflows to generate ecosystem models of reef and soft sediments, and broad-scale ecosystem classes - with a focus on workflows enabling rapid update of products and ensuring consistency across mapping outputs. These data products directly support NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Project 2.3 (Improving knowledge transfer for AMP management). The project team worked with Indigenous Rangers and organisations in the South-west region to identify opportunities for collaboration, incorporate cultural knowledge into research design, and support knowledge exchange through field-based activities and on-country engagement. The project aimed to strengthen both established and emerging relationships, building on existing collaborations between University of Western Australia (UWA) researchers and the Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (ETNTAC) on complementary projects. UWA had also previously partnered with the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC), in consultation with the South West Boojarah (now Karri Karrak) and the Undalup Association, to support cultural mapping and biodiversity surveys under the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub. These partnerships informed the project’s cultural engagement approach and laid the groundwork for ongoing collaboration. Outcomes of this work included improved capacity for AMP managers to identify and monitor rocky reef habitats and key natural values, assess management effectiveness, and support initiatives such as marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based fisheries management, and contribute to emerging frameworks such as ocean accounting. It also helped to guide the targeting of future surveys, particularly in ecosystems with high conservation value. Outputs • Seafloor imagery and annotations [dataset] • Predicted 'ecosystem component' habitat maps for the temperate continental shelf [dataset] • Predicted reef and sediment extent map for the temperate continental shelf [dataset] • Final technical report [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub project "Updating knowledge of Australian white sharks". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- The white shark is listed as Vulnerable and Migratory under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. Previous NESP-funded research provided updated estimates of breeding population size and trend, but uncertainty remained around juvenile nursery and pupping areas, movement patterns, and connectivity between eastern and south-western Australian populations. More recent evidence has also raised the possibility of a single Australian population. This project aimed to reduce uncertainty in the status, trends and population structure of white sharks in Australian waters, with a focus on identifying biologically important habitats and improving population assessment through expanded close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR) analyses. The project combined three major components: (1) pilot tagging studies of large adult females and juvenile sharks to improve understanding of movements, pupping areas and habitat use; (2) genetic analyses to assess stock structure and connectivity using samples collected across Australia, and where possible from South Africa and New Zealand; and (3) updated population assessment using expanded tissue sample collections and close-kin mark-recapture methods. Population estimates incorporated approximately 1,000 tissue samples from New South Wales together with additional samples from South Australia and Western Australia. Juvenile abundance information from the New South Wales shark management program was also integrated into the assessment framework. CKMR approaches used genetic identification of parent-offspring and half-sibling relationships to estimate adult abundance, survival and population trends. Project outputs included updated estimates of population size and trend, improved understanding of population connectivity and movement patterns, and refined information on potential nursery and critical habitat areas. These findings support white shark recovery planning, future monitoring design, and conservation assessment in Commonwealth and state waters. Outputs • New genetic samples and sequencing data for white sharks [dataset] • Tracking data from PAT tags [dataset] • Final technical report (including recommendations for systematic future research to assist in identifying additional critical habitat for the south-western white shark population) [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2024 project "Delivery of science to support the implementation of a marine park management effectiveness system". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Australian Marine Parks (AMPs) form one of the world’s largest marine park systems, protecting natural, cultural, social and economic values across Commonwealth waters. Parks Australia’s Management Effectiveness system supports adaptive management by assessing whether management arrangements are protecting park values and responding to changing pressures. This project supported implementation of the Australian Marine Parks Science Plan and delivered key science needs for the 2028 National AMP management plan review. It built on previous Marine Biodiversity Hub and Marine and Coastal Hub work on natural values, pressures, cumulative impacts, monitoring priorities and management effectiveness. The project delivered four linked outputs: 1) Monitoring protocols for Tier 1 and Tier 2 priority monitoring sites, including site-specific monitoring plans, data and survey method inventories, condition indicators, pressure indicators, and partnership case studies with Traditional Owners. 2) Improved workflows for assessing natural values, activities and pressures, including updates to pressure information, and establishment of data agreements and processes for regular updates. 3) Assessment approaches for emerging industries, using offshore renewable energy adjacent to AMPs as a test case to identify potential impacts such as underwater noise, seabed disturbance, sediment transport, vessel interactions, displacement of existing activities, and other future uses such as decommissioning or carbon storage. 4) Improved system-wide understanding of AMPs through collaboration with Parks Australia, state and territory marine protected area managers and fisheries managers, including opportunities to align data, indicators and management effectiveness approaches. The outputs provided Parks Australia with a more consistent evidence base for adaptive management, management plan review, monitoring design, pressure assessment and cross-jurisdictional collaboration across Australia’s marine park system. Outputs • Updated national-scale spatial datasets of: (1) Natural Values Ecosystems; (2) Key Natural Values; (3) Pressures & Activities; (4) Cumulative impacts; (5) Ecosystem-level risk assessment (absolute risk) [datasets] • Refined list of monitoring priorities for AMPs [written] • Monitoring protocols for monitoring priorities [written] • Final project report [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2023 project "Monitoring, aggregation areas and approaches to improve data effectiveness for southern right whale conservation". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Southern right whales are listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act and are recovering slowly from historical whaling. In Australia, recovery differs between the growing western population and the more poorly understood eastern population, where available data are largely opportunistic. Improved abundance estimates, photo-identification workflows, aggregation-area assessment, and understanding of connectivity are needed to support conservation management. This project delivered priority information for southern right whale conservation through four linked components: (1) long-term aerial surveys of the western population; (2) expansion and integration of photo-identification datasets within the Australian Right Whale Photo-Identification Catalogue (ARWPIC); (3) development of statistical approaches to combine opportunistic and systematic observations; and (4) collection of movement and genomic data to assess connectivity between eastern and western subpopulations. The project continued annual aerial surveys from Perth to Ceduna to update abundance trends and reproductive parameters for the western population. Photo-identification images and metadata were collated from archived, targeted, and opportunistic sources across eastern and western aggregation areas, supporting matching of individual whales, assessment of reproductive areas, and estimation of population parameters. The project also developed methods to expand the use of opportunistic sightings data alongside systematically collected observations, improving capacity to estimate population size, trends, recovery rates, residency, site fidelity, and connectivity. Movement, photo-identification, and genomic data collected near the boundary of the eastern and western subpopulations, particularly around Encounter Bay and adjacent waters, supported assessment of population structure, whale movements, habitat use, and potential exposure to human activities. The outputs of this project support updates to the national Southern Right Whale Conservation Management Plan, Biologically Important Area (BIA) mapping, marine park management, and risk assessments for marine industries and tourism. Consultation and engagement with Indigenous groups in South Australia and Western Australia enabled communication of research goals and findings, supported knowledge sharing, and identified opportunities for collaboration and capacity building linked to southern right whale conservation. Outputs • Individual whale photo-identifications in aggregation areas [ARWPIC image catalogue] • Aerial survey data for 2023, 2024, 2026 [dataset] • Exposure to single and cumulative threats [dataset] • Whale tracking tracking, behaviour, and dive data [dataset] • Final project report [written]

This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub project "Continental-scale tracking of threats to shallow Australian reef ecosystems". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- The project will integrate Australia’s largest, most detailed datasets of shallow-water tropical and temperate marine biodiversity, and assess how pollution, fishing, rising sea temperatures and introduced species are impacting associated natural values. An initial outcome will be the identification of state-of-the-environment indicators for inclusion in the 2016 State of the Environment report, with subsequent activities aimed at contributing additional data products needed for other NESP projects, Parks Australia, and the Essential Environmental Measures initiative. The project will also describe a national shallow-water baseline of biodiversity in Commonwealth Marine Reserves for assessment of change through the long term. Planned Outputs Publications describing: • Environmental values at all sites investigated in Commonwealth waters by Reef Life Survey divers • Compatibility of survey data obtained through LTMP, RLS and LTMPA programs, and corrections factors needed when linking outputs of these monitoring programs • Time series data depicting interannual variation over the past two decades in ecological indicators specific to individual threats • Relationships between anthropogenic stressors and reef condition, with emphasis on impacts of sewage and heavy metal pollution, fishing, warming sea temperature, urbanisation and introduced species • Sensitive and cost effective indicators of threats to environmental condition. • Coherent marine ecological data streams that feed into SoE reporting, the Essential Environmental Measures initiative, and future evaluation of Commonwealth Marine Reserves.

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Emerging Priorities project "A trophic-ecology based tool to assess and manage HAB impacts on marine ecosystems". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- South Australia’s 2025 harmful algal bloom (HAB) caused mortality across multiple trophic levels, from primary producers to top predators. This highlighted the need for tools that assess reef ecosystem condition and recovery using food-web structure, not only species counts or biomass estimates. This Emerging Priorities project will develop a trophic integrity framework for assessing subtidal reef condition across South Australia’s marine estate. The framework will support development of a Normalised Reef Status Index (NRSI) based on relative biomass across trophic levels, using biodiversity datasets from Reef Life Survey and the Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration, along with stereo-BRUV surveys and long-term habitat, plankton and water-quality monitoring. The project will model relationships between reef condition and environmental, disturbance and management drivers, enabling assessment of the 2025 HAB and marine heatwave impacts, recovery trajectories, and areas most vulnerable to future events. It will integrate existing and new biodiversity datasets with trophic and spatial analyses to provide a science-based assessment of subtidal reef condition. A web-based decision-support tool will be used to visualise reef condition, disturbance impacts and recovery, and to explore management options such as spatial protection, habitat restoration, fishing closures and rezoning. A technical report with management recommendations will support the SA HAB Science Program, state and Commonwealth agencies, marine park management, and public engagement. Outputs • Quantitative models linking trophic integrity indicators (including the NRSI) with environmental and management drivers [modelling framework] • Spatial prediction and vulnerability maps identifying reef areas most affected by the 2025 HAB and areas most susceptible to future disturbance events [dataset] • Interactive web-based decision-support dashboard for visualising reef condition, disturbance impacts and recovery trajectories, with scenario-testing functionality [tool] • Final technical report [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2024 project "Environmental DNA for measuring offshore marine biodiversity: what can DNA in water collected from the RV Investigator tell us?". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Environmental DNA (eDNA) in seawater provides a non-extractive way to characterise marine biodiversity from genetic material shed by organisms, from microbes and plankton to invertebrates and fishes. It is an emerging tool for marine ecosystem monitoring, particularly in offshore areas where conventional sampling can be difficult, costly or environmentally disruptive. This project collected and analysed more than 500 eDNA samples from 91 sites during the South-east Australian Marine Ecosystem Survey (SEA-MES) on RV Investigator. Samples were collected along the continental shelf between Tasmania and southern New South Wales, including sites within the South-east Marine Parks Network, providing the first comprehensive eDNA baseline for this region. The project tested active eDNA sampling from CTD water samples and passive eDNA sampling from a deep-towed camera system. DNA metabarcoding and Tree of Life metabarcoding were used to identify biodiversity patterns across the water column and near the seafloor. Results were compared with conventional survey methods, including fish trawls, plankton sampling and deep-towed camera deployments, to assess how eDNA complements existing monitoring approaches. The dataset revealed clear biodiversity patterns by depth, latitude, and water-column position, including higher fish diversity near the seafloor than at the surface. Comparisons with trawl and plankton data showed that eDNA provided complementary biodiversity information, supporting its use alongside existing survey methods and highlighting its value as part of integrated monitoring programs. The outputs provide a new biodiversity baseline for south-eastern Australian waters, and practical guidance on future application of eDNA techniques for offshore monitoring of marine parks and fisheries. Outputs • eDNA sequences with associated collection metadata (x2 voyages x50 sites) [dataset] • Final project report [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub bridging study - "A photo-identification study of southern right whales to update aggregation area classification in the southwest of Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- The southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is listed as Endangered under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and is subject to conservation listings in five Australian states due to severe population declines caused by historical whaling. The Southern Right Whale Conservation Management Plan 2011–2021 outlines the current status of, and threats to, the southern right whale in Australian waters and prioritises recovery actions during this period. The long-term vision for the recovery of this species in Australian waters is to increase the population size to a level that the conservation status improves, and the species no longer qualifies for listing as threatened under any of the EPBC Act listing criteria. The plan must be periodically updated to reflect new knowledge and prioritise the research needed to monitor population recovery and predict the impacts of threats such as climate change. Aerial surveys of southern right whales have been conducted across the southern Australian coast from Perth (W.A.) to Ceduna (S.A.) since 1993, as part of a long-term program to monitor the recovery, and inform the Conservation Management Plan (2011-2021), for this Endangered species. In Australia’s south-east, there has been little sign of recovery in southern right whale numbers following intense commercial whaling. A working hypothesis assumes separation between the ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ populations, largely due to loss of ‘cultural memory’ of whales migrating to the eastern range breeding areas. Given the relative paucity of animals that visit the southern Australian coast in areas other than south-west Australia, the western population is considered to represent the majority of the ‘Australian’ southern right whale population. The count data from these aerial surveys provide data on population trend and estimates of population size for the ‘western’ population, and hence the majority of the Australian southern right whales. Associated photo-identification data provide life history information (such as calving intervals) and connectivity between the ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ populations and contribute to the national southern right whale photo-id database: the Australasian Right Whale Photo-Identification Catalogue (ARWPIC). The 2020 aerial survey program recorded substantially lower numbers of whales than in the previous 13 years, and the lowest number of non-calving whales since the program started. This project conducted new aerial surveying in August 2021 to provide a relative estimate of annual population size for determining longer term population trends and contribute to determining if 2020 was an anomalous year or an indicator of some longer-term change to recent recovery rates and the female breeding cycle. Outputs • Aerial whale survey data (counts by size class, number, and location) - 2021-22 season [dataset] • Individual whale photo-identification data - 2021-22 season [imagery - published to ARWPIC] • Final Project Report including a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub scoping study - "National Areas of Interest for Seabed Mapping, Characterisation and Biodiversity Assessment". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Seabed and marine biodiversity data are time-consuming and costly to collect, so it is imperative that acquisition is focused on areas that align with end user priorities. The value that different stakeholders place on seabed and biodiversity data can be difficult to determine. Therefore, a shared process for identifying survey priorities is required to ensure the maximum shared benefit of future survey investment across research users, funding agencies, infrastructure providers, as well as the wider marine research community. The project aimed to assist with the planning and prioritisation of marine surveys (both physical and biological) by scoping a prioritisation framework for marine surveys undertaking physical and biological seabed data collection in Australia. Focused workshops and targeted engagements with seabed mapping organisations were used to develop a standard set of metadata for agencies to define spatial Areas of Interest (AOI). The standard metadata were used in a prototype prioritisation framework that allows users to transparently and consistently rank and prioritise survey work or data delivery processes. The prioritisation is then based on rankings established by defined sets of criteria. A web-based AOI submission tool and mapping publication service was then developed for these defined areas as part of the AusSeabed Survey Coordination Tool. Adoption of this tool facilitates the development of an interim national areas of interest product to inform future survey planning. This product supports both the needs of Parks Australia's network Science Plans, and consideration of information needs for Indigenous Protected Areas within Sea Country. Outputs • National Areas of Interest polygon & interactive map [dataset] • Code for Survey Coordination Tool [Github Repo] • Final Report with Value Prioritisation Framework [written]

This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub project "Analysis and elicitation to support State of the Environment reporting for the full spectrum of data availability". No data outputs were generated by this project. -------------------- The availability and quality of observation data that may be used to support State of the Environment reporting lies on a spectrum from: (i) high quality (e.g. Reef Life Survey, Long term reef monitoring programme, Temperate Reef Monitoring programme, state-based MPA monitoring programmes); (ii) moderate quality (e.g. continuous plankton recorder, occasional by catch surveys); (iii) low quality (anecdotal information) to (iv) expert beliefs but no empirical observations. We currently lack a principled process for utilising and merging data of varying quality and from different sources to form a national perspective to support State of the Environment reporting. The key unifying principle to support such a process is the extent to which the available data is representative of the environmental asset in question. As the extent to which the empirical observations accurately represent the state of the asset in both space and time diminishes, so the reliance on expert opinion increases, to the limit where the only available information is expert opinion. This project will provide an over-arching framework to consider these issues, develop practical protocols for blending different data streams with or without experts’ judgement as appropriate, and thereby provide a foundation for improving State of Environment reporting for all types of data sources, from high to low quality. It will do this by developing and applying protocols to support development of the marine chapter of SoE 2106. This currently being developed within a separate CSIRO funded project. The project will use the experience of developing this chapter to make recommendations about appropriate methodologies for future environmental reporting. Importantly the statistical approach and analysis principles will be consistent regardless of the amount or quality of the information available. As a result the framework and analysis methods will remain relevant, even as the quality and quantity of environmental data at the department’s disposal changes. This will provide the consistency of analysis and reporting that is essential to SoE. Expected Outcomes • The provision of two or three examples that demonstrate a unified approach to the use of expert opinion in SoE reporting. These examples will be identified in close collaboration with the Department and will be developed in time to support the marine chapter of 2016 State of the Environment report, contingent on the availability of resources in the second year of the project and timely interaction with the department. • Assessments of the status and trends of environmental assets in the State of the Environment report will be based on a principled and statistically defensible process that can merges and utilises data from all sources including expert opinion.