Adult and sub-adult Red handfish (Thymichthys politus) and Spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) preserved specimens and underwater images were used for analysing morphometrics (comprising of specimens from the CSIRO Australian National Fish Collection and underwater images). Individuals were measured for the morphological traits using electronic callipers (±0.1 mm) for preserved specimens and using Image J software for digital records. Note digital image size calibration occurred using a ruler in images or from size taken in situ. The purpose was to investigate whether external morphometrics could be used to determine sex in handfishes.

Policy and decision makers often seek guidance as to the benefits of conservation and repair of coastal seascapes, to justify and underpin any potential investments. Much is already known about the broad habitat and nursery values of seascapes among the science community, but there is also a need for estimation of clear and unambiguous market-based benefits that may arise from investment in repair. Recognising that this economic knowledge is imperfect for Australian seascapes, three case studies spanning tropical, subtropical and temperate environments explored the benefits in question. The case studies focus on saltmarsh habitats in particular, which have received very little investment in repair despite subtropical and temperate coastal saltmarsh listed as vulnerable ecological community under Australian Federal legislation. A subset of economically important species and conservative judgments were used to characterise the minimum potential economic benefit. For each of the case studies the conclusion was that while the biological information will remain imperfect, the business case for investment in the repair and conservation of coastal seascapes is compelling. We outline priorities for further research to make the business case more tangible to policy makers, stakeholders and the general public.

The data describes number of vessels, engine power, gross tonnage and fishing effort by year (1950-2017), targeted functional group, and fishing gear. Fishing effort estimates were derived from country-level fishing fleet capacity data publicly available, following the method described in Rousseau et al (2019; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820344116) and methods improvement reported in Rousseau et al. (in prep). The data coverage is global, but estimates are given at the Exclusive Economic Zone-, Large Marine Ecosystem-, and Food Agriculture Organisation-level. The data was collected for a wide range of uses, including to inform global and regional marine ecosystem models and to understand the long-term evolution of fishing and its socio-ecological implications in the global ocean.

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.

Ecosystem data was collected as part of an integrated study of the continental shelf over a 2 and a half year period between November 2015 and January 2018. Data were collected bi-monthly through the spring to autumn (November, January, March, May). Stations were situated perpendicular to shelf bathymetry, ranging in depth from ~50 m to 100 m near the edge of the shelf and were located between 5 km and 15 km from land; encompassing from south Storm Bay, past the southern tip of Bruny Island and into the Southern Ocean (south-east Tasmania, Australia). Data collected focused on each trophic level, characterizing the zooplankton community, fish schools and marine predators. The overarching aim of the study was to investigate the effects of long term warming, and a marine heatwave event on zooplankton dynamics in terms of community response variables and the flow-on effects of changing lower-trophic level dynamics for top predators.

Baited remote underwater stereo-video (stereo-BRUV) were used to sample the fish assemblages of the Hunter Marine Park and adjacent Port Stephens - Great Lakes Marine Park at equivalent depths. Stereo-BRUV were deployed in both autumn and spring from spring 2016 to autumn 2018 and at depth of 32-105m. The videos were analyse to all fish species to the lowest taxonmic level and estimate relative abundance (MaxN) and lengths of all species. This information was used to form a baseline of the benthic fish assemblages of the Hunter Marine Park. This study was done as part of the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub D3 project (https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/project/project-d3-implementing-monitoring-amps-and-status-marine-biodiversity-assets-continental).

This database contains acoustic telemetry data for euryhaline elasmobranchs in northern Australian rivers. Data was collected 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'. An acoustic receiver array was deployed in the Adelaide River, and another in the Alligator Rivers (primarily the South Alligator River) to monitor the movements, habitat use and natural mortality of threatened river sharks (Glyphis species) and sawfishes (Pristis species). Receiver deployment data is available through the IMOS Animal Tracking Facility database (visit https://animaltracking.aodn.org.au/receivers/deployment and search for project 'NESP Northern Australian hotspots for the recovery of threatened euryhaline species'). Detection data is currently embargoed until end 2023.