Abalone Fishing Block 28: High-Resolution Acoustic Seafloor Habitat Maps of Tasmania

The Australian Ocean Data Network provides high-resolution acoustic mapping data for abalone fishing block 28 off the east coast of Tasmania. This dataset captures a snapshot of 2021 seafloor habitats, including substrate type, kelp coverage, and predicted urchin barrens. It includes 50cm resolution bathymetry, substrate classification, and water column data products.

Use Cases

• Map fine-scale spatial distribution of key abalone habitat based on multibeam acoustic imagery.
• Analyze substrate type and kelp coverage for strategic decision-making in marine management.
• Detect and predict urchin barrens using the acoustic water column technique described.
• Model seabed characteristics using bathymetry derivatives like slope, curvature, and rugosity.

Strengths

• Provides 50cm resolution bathymetry and substrate type maps, indicating high spatial detail.
• Includes multiple derived data products such as seabed slope, curvature, rugosity, and vegetation likelihood classification.
• Data is temporally specific, representing a snapshot of the 2021 distribution of seafloor habitats.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing only on specific fishing blocks off Tasmania.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Collected using multibeam acoustic imagery for mapping seafloor habitats.

Time Range

2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 20:58:25.415822; freshness should be verified.

Geography

East coast of Tasmania, specifically abalone fishing block 28.