Deep reef substrata at Ningaloo Marine Park

Data from multibeam echosounder surveys taken as part of the Ningaloo Outlook project were classified into various seafloor cover types according to their hardness, rugosity and depth. The classifications were validated with towed video ground truth where it was available. This dataset describes two AOIs which are explicitly part of the Ningaloo Outlook Deep Reefs project. Substratum classifications were applied using multibeam backscatter angular response curves along with rugosity as input to a maximum likelihood classifier. See original metadata record(s) and associated attached documents for accuracy estimates, alternate classification techniques, and additional surveyed areas. https://doi.org/10.25919/kssa-5b46 https://doi.org/10.25919/kttc-x397 https://doi.org/10.25919/8m65-7k26

CAMRIS Marine Benthic Substrate Database - Marsed

This database contains information about the distribution of 10 different types of sea floor sediment in the Australian region. It was derived from data collected and mapped by the Ocean Sciences Institute, University of Sydney.

Historic Vessel Strikes with Whales in Australian Waters

Records of collisions between vessels and whales in Australian waters between 1872 and 2015 as described in the paper Peel, D., Smith, J. N., & Childerhouse, S. (2018). Vessel Strike of Whales in Australia: The Challenges of Analysis of Historical Incident Data. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 69. This record has been created to facilitate access to the original data collection at https://doi.org/10.25919/5be5086a6fda1

CAMRIS Seagrass Dataset

This data contains information about the distribution of seagrass around the Australian coastline. It was prepared by Dr. Hugh Kirkman (CSIRO Division of Fisheries) from a review of published and unpublished sources, and updated by Dr. Ian Hahmdorf, (Bureau of Rural Sciences). General info: CAMRIS, standing for the Coastal and Marine Resources Information System, is a small-scale spatial analysis system developed in collaboration by several divisions of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), as part of the CSIRO Coastal Zone Program. CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology was the custodian of the 'coastal' subset of the Australian Resources Information System (ARIS). Coastal ARIS became the core dataset of the CAMRIS project. The Coastal ARIS database was developed from a coastal inventory developed by Galloway et al. This inventory contained relatively large scale data including landform, geology, vegetation, soil, land use, climate and population information for each of 3027 3x10km sections around the coastline of mainland Australia and Tasmania, but excluding offshore islands.

NESP MaC Project 1.26 - Relative abundance of the ‘western’ population of southern right whales from an aerial survey off southern Australia

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub bridging study - "A photo-identification study of southern right whales to update aggregation area classification in the southwest of Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Aerial surveys of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) have been conducted across the southern Australian coast from Perth (W.A.) to Ceduna (S.A.) since 1993, as part of a long-term program to monitor the recovery, and inform the Conservation Management Plan (2011-2021), for this Endangered species (under the EPBC Act). The 2020 aerial survey recorded substantially lower numbers of whales than in the previous 13 years, and the lowest number of non-calving whales since the program started. An aerial survey conducted by this project in August 2021 will provide a relative estimate of annual population size for determining longer term population trends and contribute to determining if 2020 was an anomalous year or an indicator of some longer-term change to recent recovery rates and the female breeding cycle. Outputs • Aerial whale survey data (counts by size class, number, and location) - 2021-22 season [dataset] • Individual whale photo-identification data - 2021-22 season [imagery - published to ARWPIC] • Final technical report with analysed data, including a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]

NESP Project A13 - ARWPIC Right Whale sighting data summaries

This dataset comprises summaries of sight and resight data compiled for the NESP MBH project A13 and derived from data housed in the Australian Right Whale Photo Identification Catalogue (ARWPIC) and associated effort summaries. These summaries have been compiled as part of an analysis of mark recapture information in establishing trends in the population and spatial connectivity of individuals across southern Australia. The summaries are based on original sightings data collected across 1990-2018 by ARWPIC partners. The ARWPIC is housed at the Australian Antarctic Division and managed by the Australian Marine Mammal Centre.

Red and spotted handfish morphometrics

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.