NESP TWQ Project 3.2 - Improving historical estimates of abundance and distribution of dug

NESP TWQ Project 3.2 data from the Australian Ocean Data Network aims to improve historical estimates of dugong and green turtle populations in western and central Torres Strait. The project collected movement, diving, and survey visibility data in 2015-2016 to re-analyze aerial surveys from 2001, 2005, 2006, 2011, and 2013. Its goal is to produce more accurate population size and distribution estimates for these species.

Use Cases

• Modeling population trends of dugongs and green turtles based on historical aerial survey data mentioned in the description
• Estimating correction factors for aerial survey visibility using collected animal movement and diving behavior data
• Assessing the distribution of harvestable large female green turtles in Torres Strait for wildlife management

Strengths

• Project leverages historical aerial survey data from five distinct years (2001, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013) for longitudinal analysis.
• Data collection specifically targeted two key parameters for survey correction: animal movement/diving behavior and the proportion of visible harvestable turtles.

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 solely on western and central Torres Strait.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Aerial surveys, supplemented by data on animal movement, diving behavior, and survey visibility.

Time Range

Primary data collection 2015-2016, with historical survey data from 2001, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 13:35:44.973461; freshness should be verified

Geography

Western and central Torres Strait