Fish Behavior and Catch Rates Before and After a 2015 Marine Seismic Survey in Bass Strait

Bass Strait, Australia, was the site of a study quantifying the impact of a 2-D seismic survey in April 2015 on fish behavior and commercial catch rates. The research combined field-based acoustic tagging of three shark and flathead species with a desktop analysis of Commonwealth fisheries logbook data from January 2012 to October 2015. The dataset, published in Marine Environmental Research in 2018, found limited evidence for seismic-induced changes in the targeted species.

Use Cases

• Modeling changes in commercial catch rates for 15 fish species based on logbook data before and after a seismic event.
• Analyzing diel movement pattern shifts in flathead species in response to seismic survey operations.
• Comparing acoustic telemetry data on shark residency and swimming speed between experimental and control zones.
• Investigating potential correlations between seismic survey timing and changes in catch rates for gear types like Danish seine and gillnet.

Strengths

• Combines two distinct data sources: field-based acoustic telemetry and multi-year commercial fisheries logbook records.
• Covers a specific, documented seismic event in April 2015 with before-during-after monitoring.
• Includes analysis of 15 species and two gear types for catch rate impacts.

Limitations

• Behavioral data were limited as many acoustically tagged sharks left the monitoring array before the seismic survey commenced.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, associated with a published study in Marine Environmental Research (2018).

Collection Method

Field acoustic tagging and desktop analysis of government fisheries logbook data.

Time Range

Primary study period April 2015; catch rate analysis from Jan 2012 – Oct 2015.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 23:40:00.487550; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Gippsland Basin, Bass Strait, Australia.