NESP MaC Project 4.21 - Assessing the condition of natural values within priority temperate Australian Marine Parks to evaluate management effectiveness (IMAS, UWA)

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. -------------------- Australian Marine Parks cover almost half of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone and are managed using an adaptive management framework that requires robust ecological data to assess the condition and trend of natural values. Standardised long-term monitoring is critical for evaluating management effectiveness, understanding emerging pressures, and guiding future investment in park management. This project undertook ecological surveys across continental shelf habitats within Geographe, South-west Corner, Beagle, Hunter, and Kimberley Marine Parks. Surveys targeted priority long-term monitoring locations identified by Parks Australia, and were designed to collect comparable biological and ecological data relevant to management effectiveness assessment. Monitoring followed nationally standardised methods from the NESP Field Manuals for Marine Sampling to Monitor Australian Waters (https://doi.org/10.11636/9781925848755). Demersal fishes and sharks were surveyed using stereo-BRUVs and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs); mobile invertebrates using traps; sessile invertebrates, seagrass and macroalgal communities using ROVs and drop cameras; and shallow/mesophotic coral reef ecosystems using ROVs supplemented with stereo-BRUVs. Survey outputs included new baseline and repeat observations of natural values, biodiversity, habitat condition, species size structure and coral bleaching impacts. The data support assessment of ecological condition and trends, evaluation of pressures including climate change and marine heatwaves, and development of monitoring indicators and reporting protocols linked to Parks Australia’s Management Effectiveness framework. The project collaborated with Traditional Owners and Indigenous ranger groups, including the Wadandi Ranger Program, Undalup Association and Karri Karrak Aboriginal Corporation, supporting two-way knowledge exchange and Indigenous participation in Sea Country monitoring and management. Outputs • Fish scoring data from BRUV, BOSS and ROV platforms [dataset] • Benthic imagery with annotations from ROV and drop camera platforms [dataset] • Lobster catch data [dataset] • Spatially-referenced highlight videos/imagery for communication purposes [dataset] • Final project report [written]