BRUVS Fish and Benthic Survey of Inshore Shoals near Townsville, October 2006

From October 28 to 30, 2006, this dataset records observations from 5 baited remote underwater video stations deployed around inshore shoals near Townsville. It comprises 242 individual fish, sharks, rays, and sea snakes from 43 species, with 64 images captured during the survey. The data was managed by the Australian Ocean Data Network using a custom Microsoft Access interface developed by AIMS staff.

Use Cases

• Classifying benthic habitat types based on recorded topography, sediment, and benthos observations.
• Analyzing fish behavior patterns based on the 8 recorded categories, including feeding on bait.
• Modeling species abundance and arrival times using MaxN (maximum number visible at one time) and time-of-arrival data.
• Studying population demographics using recorded maturity data (adult or juvenile).

Strengths

• Includes 242 observed individuals from 43 distinct species.
• Captures multiple data dimensions: species identity (with CAAB codes), behavior, maturity, relative abundance, and habitat classification.
• Associated with a reference library of approximately 3500 of the best images from related BRUVS projects.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from a specific 3-day survey in 2006; temporal and geographic scope is limited.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS).

Time Range

2006-10 28 to 2006-10-30

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-22 16:38:36.791582; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Inshore Shoals near Townsville, Australia.