Macrocystis Kelp Bed Survey of Tasmania's East Coast

A 1999 aerial survey mapped the distribution of Macrocystis pyrifera kelp beds along the Tasmanian coast from Eddystone Point to South East Cape. Boundaries were recorded using a Trimble GPS unit and plotted on 1:100,000 topographical maps. The dataset likely contains geospatial polygons defining kelp bed locations for ecological and fisheries management.

Use Cases

• Mapping kelp bed extent and boundaries based on aerial GPS tracks.
• Assessing habitat availability for marine species dependent on Macrocystis forests.
• Monitoring changes in coastal marine vegetation over time using the 1999 baseline.
• Informing fisheries management decisions by identifying key marine resource areas.

Strengths

• Provides a specific temporal baseline from a 1999 survey.
• Uses precise geospatial methodology with Trimble GPS and 1:100,000 scale maps.
• Covers a defined geographic region along the entire east coast of Tasmania.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: column names, row count, file size, and license are unknown.
• The dataset appears static with a last update date in 2026, but the survey data is from 1999, indicating potential freshness issues.
• Data format is listed only as HTML, which suggests limited machine-readability for spatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

Tasmania Government's The List Data

Collection Method

Aerial survey from a light aircraft, with bed boundaries marked on GPS and 1:100,000 topographical maps.

Time Range

1999

Freshness

Last updated metadata: 2026-05-01. Survey conducted: 1999.

Geography

East coast of Tasmania, from Eddystone Point to South East Cape.