This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2023 project "Guiding research and best practice standards for the sustainable development of Offshore Renewables and other emerging marine industries in Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Australia is entering a phase of rapid development of offshore renewable energy (ORE) projects and there is an immediate need to ensure these developments occur in a socio-ecologically sustainable manner. This project used a systematic approach to identify existing environmental and cultural data and best-practice monitoring standards to inform the sustainable development of ORE projects (primarily wind) in Australia and enabling regulatory decisions to be compliant with Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure (OEI) Act requirements. Focus areas of the data inventory were: • Seabed geomorphology and habitat characterisation. • Interactions with oceanography; eg the potential influence on coastal processes including sediment transport. • Interacting species and habitats; eg seabirds, shorebirds and migratory terrestrial birds, mammals, fish, sharks and rays, and invertebrates. • Potential impacts of installation, operation, and decommissioning; eg habitat modification (including dredging/impact to wetlands), installation noise, ongoing noise and electromagnetic fields, vessel activity, collision risk and barrier effects on birds. • Monitoring needs and associated best practices. • Indigenous communities affected by ORE development areas. This project ran in conjunction with a second project (https://www.nespmarinecoastal.edu.au/project/3-21) that addressed the immediate priorities of regulators, with a focus on the confirmed area of declaration for ORE off the east Gippsland coast, Victoria. Critical to informing the direction and focus of both these projects was guidance from an ORE Program Steering Committee comprised of representatives from relevant sections within DCCEEW, NOPSEMA, and MaC Hub partners involved in the project. Outputs • Inventory of existing information and associated sources for the following thematic areas: seabed geomorphology and habitat, oceanography, species and habitats, affected indigenous communities, ongoing monitoring needs and associated best practices, potential impacts of installation and operation [data inventory] • Final project report [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2024 project "Assessing the condition of natural values within priority temperate Australian Marine Parks to evaluate management effectiveness". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Parks Australia has developed an adaptive management approach to the Australian Marine Parks (AMPs), which cover 48% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. Key to the success of this framework is robust biological and ecological data to assess the performance of management approaches. The project will collect data to measure the trend in natural values to allow for evaluation of management performance at various levels on the continental shelf regions of four AMPs: Hunter (Temperate East Network), Beagle (South-east Network), South-west Corner and Geographe (South-west Network). These AMPs were selected based on previous partnerships between Parks Australia and NESP projects. This project aligns with Parks Australia’s science plans, supporting adaptive management and addressing emerging threats. Marine sampling and monitoring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be used to systematically collect data that will provide trusted scientific evidence for decision-makers, aiding in effectively safeguarding the ecological integrity of these marine ecosystems. Outputs • Fish scoring data from BRUV, BOSS and ROV platforms [dataset] • Benthic imagery with annotations from AUV platform [dataset] • Lobster catch data [dataset] • Spatially-referenced highlight videos/imagery for communication purposes [dataset] • Final project report [written]

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2023 project "Identifying priority datasets of relevance to the Gippsland declaration area and pathways for their use in guiding decision-making". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Australia has entered a phase of rapid development of offshore renewable energy (ORE) with one declaration area and one notice of proposal to declare an area for ORE infrastructure announced in late 2022 and early 2023 respectively. There is an immediate need to ensure that assessment and regulatory processes can access relevant information on species protected under environmental legislation comprehensively and efficiently, to ensure that decisions are evidence based, gaps in understanding are identified and future research and monitoring is directed to fill those gaps. This project will undertake a rapid exploration of information on a priority subset of species identified by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Authority (NOPSEMA) identified as critically endangered or endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in relation to the Gippsland declaration area. The project aims to 1) identify datasets and information sources relevant to these priority species; 2) identify the level of accessibility of these datasets and information source;, 3) based on the outcomes of 2), evaluate the utility of information identified for assessments required to be undertaken by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA; and 4) identify what activities would need to be undertaken to improve the accessibility and utility of datasets and information sources not currently accessible in useable formats. This project does not intend to duplicate the efforts already being undertaken by NESP project 3.3 in identifying information on marine ecosystems nationally and producing an inventory of recognised best practices for monitoring, mitigation and management of interactions and impacts that can be applied from installation to decommissioning, to be delivered in March 2024, but will fast-track some of the information that can be incorporated into project 3.3. Outputs • Inventory of datasets relevant to the Gippsland OEI declaration area, particularly with respect to priority species identified by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA in association with the Gippsland declaration area [data inventory] • Final project report [written]

An assessment was made of the state of research knowledge in the Australian Marine Parks (2022 boundaries). This quality assessment is specifically of the suitability of data streams for deriving habitat maps. Five nationally-aggregated data streams were used in the assessment: (1) Seamap Australia (seafloor habitat) (2) AusSeabed bathymetry survey extents (bathymetry mapping) (3) Squidle+ imagery deployments (habitat observations) (4) GlobalArchive video deployments (habitat observations) (5) Geoscience Australia's Marine Sediment Database (MARS) From these data streams, quality ratings (0-5) have been made for the state of research knowledge for three research disciplines: (A) bathymetry maps; (B) habitat observations; and (C) habitat maps. Data quality assessments are reported for each AMP Network and Park. Assessments can be accessed in context at https://seamapaustralia.org/region-reports, via the State-of-Knowledge functionality in the Seamap Australia mapping portal: https://seamapaustralia.org/map, or as a stand-alone file in the 'Downloads' section of this record. This data is live and is refreshed weekly.

This project undertook a rapid exploration of information on a priority subset of species identified by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Authority (NOPSEMA) that are listed as critically endangered or endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It specifically focused on these species in relation to the Gippsland declaration area, and the adjacent areas to the declaration area in Bass Strait. This rapid exploration of information was conducted as follows: 1) identify datasets and information sources relevant to priority species identified by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA for the Gippsland declaration area; 2) identify the source of these datasets and information and their level of accessibility; 3) evaluate the utility of datasets and information identified in 2) for assessments/regulatory processes required to be undertaken by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA; and 4) identify what activities would need to be undertaken to improve the accessibility and utility of datasets and information sources identified in 3) that are not currently accessible in useable formats. Fifteen priorities species (12 birds, 3 cetaceans) were identified for which publicly-available occurrence data could be located. This record and the attached download describes the data inventory for Swift Parrots (Lathamus discolor). To download the data inventory for all fifteen priority species, see https://doi.org/10.25959/GB51-RW44.

This project undertook a rapid exploration of information on a priority subset of species identified by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Authority (NOPSEMA) that are listed as critically endangered or endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It specifically focused on these species in relation to the Gippsland declaration area, and the adjacent areas to the declaration area in Bass Strait. This rapid exploration of information was conducted as follows: 1) identify datasets and information sources relevant to priority species identified by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA for the Gippsland declaration area; 2) identify the source of these datasets and information and their level of accessibility; 3) evaluate the utility of datasets and information identified in 2) for assessments/regulatory processes required to be undertaken by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA; and 4) identify what activities would need to be undertaken to improve the accessibility and utility of datasets and information sources identified in 3) that are not currently accessible in useable formats. Fifteen priorities species (12 birds, 3 cetaceans) were identified for which publicly-available occurrence data could be located. This record and the attached download describes the data inventory for Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta). To download the data inventory for all fifteen priority species, see https://doi.org/10.25959/GB51-RW44.

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2024 project "Enhancing monitoring approaches to evaluate the abundance, life history and critical habitats of the endangered Australian sea lion". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- The Australian sea lion (ASL; Neophoca cinerea) is Australia’s only endemic pinniped. Populations have declined by more than 60% over the last 40 years to extremely low levels, leading to its endangered status. Known threats to the species include fisheries bycatch, disease, pollution, entanglement in marine debris, and climate change. Improving our understanding of the species’ abundance, life history and critical habitats is essential for evaluating these threats and guiding recovery actions but is challenging due to the species’ unique life-history and breeding biology, longevity, demersal foraging behaviour and occupancy of remote breeding habitat. This project aims to improve the monitoring and inform the management of Australian sea lions by developing cost-effective methods for acquiring abundance data from under-surveyed regions impacted by anthropogenic pressures. To do so, it will: • Apply drones to enhance monitoring at suitable breeding and haul-out sites • Develop efficient techniques to process and analyse demographic data so that survival and reproductive success estimates from a microchipped population at Seal Bay can be routinely updated; and • Continue to deploy underwater cameras on sea lions to identify and understand critical habitats and risks. Findings from these activities will underpin the National Recovery Team conservation efforts, in line with the Australian Government's Threatened Species Action Plan and Healthy Country plans. Outputs • Qualitative and qualitative spatial assessments of breeding sites from helicopter surveys in Recherche Archipelago [dataset] • Drone-collected photogrammetry, FLIR, thermal imaging and LiDAR data [dataset] • Demographic results from analysis of Seal Bay microchipping program [dataset] • Tracking data from sea lion-deployed tags: location, depth, time, temperature, light, acceleration [dataset] • Timestamped video footage from sea lion-deployed cameras [dataset] • Short non-technical summaries to distil the key findings and take-home messages [written] • Final project report [written]

This project undertook a rapid exploration of information on a priority subset of species identified by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Authority (NOPSEMA) that are listed as critically endangered or endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It specifically focused on these species in relation to the Gippsland declaration area, and the adjacent areas to the declaration area in Bass Strait. This rapid exploration of information was conducted as follows: 1) identify datasets and information sources relevant to priority species identified by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA for the Gippsland declaration area; 2) identify the source of these datasets and information and their level of accessibility; 3) evaluate the utility of datasets and information identified in 2) for assessments/regulatory processes required to be undertaken by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA; and 4) identify what activities would need to be undertaken to improve the accessibility and utility of datasets and information sources identified in 3) that are not currently accessible in useable formats. Fifteen priorities species (12 birds, 3 cetaceans) were identified for which publicly-available occurrence data could be located. This record and the attached download describes the data inventory for Grey-headed Albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma). To download the data inventory for all fifteen priority species, see https://doi.org/10.25959/GB51-RW44.

This project undertook a rapid exploration of information on a priority subset of species identified by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Authority (NOPSEMA) that are listed as critically endangered or endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It specifically focused on these species in relation to the Gippsland declaration area, and the adjacent areas to the declaration area in Bass Strait. This rapid exploration of information was conducted as follows: 1) identify datasets and information sources relevant to priority species identified by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA for the Gippsland declaration area; 2) identify the source of these datasets and information and their level of accessibility; 3) evaluate the utility of datasets and information identified in 2) for assessments/regulatory processes required to be undertaken by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA; and 4) identify what activities would need to be undertaken to improve the accessibility and utility of datasets and information sources identified in 3) that are not currently accessible in useable formats. Fifteen priorities species (12 birds, 3 cetaceans) were identified for which publicly-available occurrence data could be located. This record and the attached download describes the data inventory for Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis). To download the data inventory for all fifteen priority species, see https://doi.org/10.25959/GB51-RW44.

This project undertook a rapid exploration of information on a priority subset of species identified by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Authority (NOPSEMA) that are listed as critically endangered or endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It specifically focused on these species in relation to the Gippsland declaration area, and the adjacent areas to the declaration area in Bass Strait. This rapid exploration of information was conducted as follows: 1) identify datasets and information sources relevant to priority species identified by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA for the Gippsland declaration area; 2) identify the source of these datasets and information and their level of accessibility; 3) evaluate the utility of datasets and information identified in 2) for assessments/regulatory processes required to be undertaken by DCCEEW and NOPSEMA; and 4) identify what activities would need to be undertaken to improve the accessibility and utility of datasets and information sources identified in 3) that are not currently accessible in useable formats. Fifteen priorities species (12 birds, 3 cetaceans) were identified for which publicly-available occurrence data could be located. This record and the attached download describes the data inventory for the Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus). To download the data inventory for all fifteen priority species, see https://doi.org/10.25959/GB51-RW44.