This record provides an overview of the scope and research data outputs of the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Emerging Priorities project "Assessing the effectiveness of waste management in reducing the levels of plastics entering Australia’s marine environment". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- This project will contribute to better understanding where to target investment in abatement measures by providing information on the extent of the leakage of plastic materials into the marine environment, where the greatest leakages are and in what quantity, and what form they take (e.g. plastic bags, packaging, takeaway containers). It will also identify what type of facilities, policies and outreach strategies governments (state and local) have in place and undertake an assessment of their effectiveness. The objectives of this project are to: 1. Investigate the relationship between plastic debris in the marine environment and litter data from nearby sites; 2. Determine whether there are identifiable pathways through which plastic debris moves into the marine environment; 3. Investigate whether particular investments in facilities, policies or outreach are effective in reducing plastic debris on coasts and in oceans and where investment should be directed in the future; and 4. Initiate an internal department workshop to socialise the outcomes of the research across the relevant arms of the department, including staff involved in approvals, waste, protected species, and parks, and explore the utility of existing data to address the Department’s needs, including those arising from the TAP and the Senate Inquiry. Planned Outputs • A written report and plain English summary for use by state, territory and local governments, which: - Synthesises existing knowledge on the relationship between debris in the marine environment and litter data from nearby sites, the types of litter and the pathways through which litter moves into the marine environment. - Summarises existing coastal debris/litter survey methodologies with discussion of applications of each. • A list of the activities and programs associated with plastic waste reduction (including facilities, policies and outreach), • A publically accessible analysis and summary of different survey methods aiming to reduce debris inputs to the marine environment. - The cost of the activities and programs - Ranking of activities and programs regarding their effectiveness in reducing plastic waste in the marine environment. • Conclusions on where marine debris hot spots are in Australia’s marine environment and effective mitigation strategies. • Recommendations on where more information (scientific, policy, infrastructure, community engagement) is required to obtain a better understanding of the problem and possible solutions. This may include identifying knowledge gaps and needs for further analysis

Land features were derived by aggregating and dissolving the boundaries of the 1 degree S57 file (lndare_a layer) series for the Australian continent (+ Lord Howe Island). This represents land the area defined at Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) by the Australian Hydrographic Office. The Great Australian Bight was missing from this series, and was replaced by Geoscience Australia's 1:100k coastline. This data has been made available through the data collation process conducted by the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project D3 (Reefs on the Australian Continental Shelf).

Long-term passive acoustic observations were made at the edge of the continental shelf south of Bremer Bay, Western Australia, from February 2015 to February 2016, in order to assess seasonal patterns in the presence of various baleen and toothed whales around the Bremer Canyon/Marine Park. Further information is available in: Gavrilov A, Erbe C. 2017. Assessment of marine megafauna found at the edge of the continental shelf off Bremer Bay using passive acoustic observations. Report to the National Environmental Science Programme Marine Biodiversity Hub (CMST 2017-3), 35 p. For queries relating to access to raw acoustic files contact the Point of Contact listed in this record.

The ETAS (Eastern TASmania) model is a high-resolution (~2 km in the horizontal) ocean model for eastern Tasmania, providing three-dimensional estimates of monthly mean temperature, salinity, and circulation over the 1993-2016 period. This dataset consists of temperature, salinity, meridional (N-S), zonal (E-W), vertical, along- and cross-shore currents, density, sea level and net surface heat flux organised into yearly files. A MATLAB script to extract portions of the data is available here: https://github.com/ecjoliver/extractETAS

This dataset has been superseded by https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/0145df96-3847-474b-8b63-a66f0e03ff54 (Victorian Statewide Marine Habitat Map 2023). The Victorian Benthic Habitats - Western Port Bay (CBICS) is a synthesis of all existing benthic habitat characterisations of the embayment which have been reclassified to conform to the Combined Biotope Classification Scheme (CBiCS). Base layers for the synthesised dataset were sourced from data provided by: Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute, Queenscliff, Victoria Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, Melbourne. Parks Victoria, Victorian Government Deakin University, Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victorian Government

The intertidal area was derived by aggregating and dissolving the boundaries of the 1 degree S57 file series for the Australian continental shelf and Lord Howe Island shelf (200 m) depicting depth area features.

This database contains molecular data of elasmobranchs in northern Australian rivers, estuaries and coasts undertaken under the National Environmental Research Program (NERP) Marine Biodiversity Hub Project 2.4 'Supporting Management of Listed and Rare Species'. and the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub Project A1 'Northern Australian Hotspots for the Recovery of Threatened Euryhaline Elasmobranchs'. Surveys using gillnets and rod-and-line were undertaken in the Top End region of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Tissue samples were collected from all elasmobranchs for molecular analyses (population genetics and close-kin mark-recapture).

The state boundary area of the Australia continental shelf (including Lord Howe Island). The coastline is at Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) and the shelf break is defined by the 200 m isobath taken from Geoscience Australia's GA 2009 bathymetric dataset.

The ETAS (Eastern TASmania) model is a high-resolution (~2 km in the horizontal) ocean model for eastern Tasmania, providing three-dimensional estimates of mean temperature, salinity, and circulation over the 1993-2016 period. This dataset consists of temperature, salinity, meridional (N-S), zonal (E-W), vertical, along- and cross-shore currents, density, sea level and net surface heat flux organised into yearly files and aggregated daily or monthly. A MATLAB script to extract portions of the data is available here: https://github.com/ecjoliver/extractETAS

The ETAS (Eastern TASmania) model is a high-resolution (~2 km in the horizontal) ocean model for eastern Tasmania, providing three-dimensional estimates of daily temperature, salinity, and circulation over the 1993-2016 period. This dataset consists of temperature, salinity, meridional (N-S), zonal (E-W), vertical, along- and cross-shore currents, density, sea level and net surface heat flux organised into yearly files. A MATLAB script to extract portions of the data is available here: https://github.com/ecjoliver/extractETAS