NESP MB Project D3: Marine Biodiversity and Habitat Maps for Australia's Continental Shelf

The NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub project D3 supports monitoring for Australian Marine Parks. Outputs include a national-scale map of reef and non-reef habitats, collated mapping data, and new survey data from multibeam, AUV imagery, and BRUV surveys. The project is managed by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in June 2026.

Use Cases

• Mapping the distribution of reef habitats on the continental shelf based on the national-scale collation of mapping data.
• Assessing benthic invertebrate cover and fish abundance using new AUV and BRUV survey data.
• Developing standard operating procedures for marine biodiversity monitoring based on the project's survey methodology.
• Informing the management of Australian Marine Parks based on refined knowledge of Key Ecological Features and conservation assets.

Strengths

• Project outputs include a national-scale map of habitat distribution and extent.
• Data collection follows standard operating procedures to support a national survey program.
• Outputs integrate mapping data from government and industry sources, including previous research programs.

Limitations

• Specific column names and data structure are not described, requiring inspection after download.
• The row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description is project-focused; detailed data documentation may be in associated child records.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Collation of existing government and industry mapping data, supplemented by new surveys using multibeam, AUV, and BRUV.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 20:47:09.357947; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia's continental shelf and Australian Marine Park networks