Mapping of selected areas of Cockburn Sound, Western Australia

In 2002, aerial photography of the Perth metropolitan coastal waters was purpose-flown to obtain high quality imagery of the benthic habitats. This imagery was used to map the coverage of vegetated areas in two selected areas of Cockburn Sound: Southern Flats and Eastern Shoal. Areas of relatively poor visibility, such as the Eastern Shelf, are difficult to map with confidence using these techniques. A ground-truthing survey was undertaken in 2004 to map the seagrass and reef habitats on the Eastern Shelf utilising sidescan sonar, towed video and spot dives.