This polygon spatial dataset describes the benthic habitats likely to occur in marine environments around Gunn Point Peninsula and informs the desktop assessment of the marine biodiversity values for the region. The benthic habitats are inferred from existing information but in most cases require further data collection to validate and refine. Habitat modelling forms the basis of benthic community value assessment for Shoal Bay (Galaiduk et al. 2019). The accompanying report Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Assessment of the Gunn Point Area (2020) forms part of the Mapping the Future Project - Gunn Point. This project has identified land capability, water availability and biodiversity values to support land planning and inform development potential over the Gunn Point area. Reports and maps can be viewed from the webpage: denr.nt.gov.au/land-resource-management/development-opportunities - Development Potential of the Gunn Point Area (2020) - Biodiversity Assessment of the Gunn Point Area (2020) - Groundwater Resources of the Gunn Point Area (2020) - Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Assessment of the Gunn Point Area (2020) - Soil and Land Resources of the Gunn Point Area (2020) - Soil and Land Suitability Assessment for Irrigated Agriculture in the Gunn Point Area (2017) - Vegetation Communities of the Gunn Point Area (2020)

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia’s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues.

This submission creates a static snapshot of data from the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and stereo-BRUV annotation data from the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Elizabeth and Middleton Reef survey. More details on the survey can be found at https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/document/elizabeth-and-middleton-reefs-lord-howe-marine-park-post-survey-report.

[This data has been superseded by a synthesised global dataset which includes additional ecological data contributed by non-RLS entities (National Reef Monitoring Network). Please visit the corresponding NRMN Collection (IMOS - National Reef Monitoring Network Sub-Facility - Global off-transect species observations || Global reef fish abundance and biomass) for the most current version of this data. See "Downloads and Links" section below.] This dataset contains records of bony fishes and elasmobranchs collected by Reef Life Survey (RLS) divers along 50m transects on shallow rocky and coral reefs, worldwide. Abundance information is available for all records found within quantitative survey limits (50 x 5 m swathes during a single swim either side of the transect line, each distinguished as a Block), and out-of-survey records are identified as presence-only (Method 0). Although surveys are undertaken as part of monitoring programs at particular locations (mostly in Australia), this dataset contains does not include repeat surveys of sites. This data has been superseded by the NRMN collections "IMOS - National Reef Monitoring Network - Global reef fish abundance and biomass" (http://catalogue-imos.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/b273fafa-03d6-4fc2-9acf-39d8c06581e5) and "IMOS - National Reef Monitoring Network - Global off-transect species observations" (http://catalogue-imos.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a73907b7-3686-4dcf-8a1d-7efc4e5ffc05).