Kelp Bed Extent Survey in Tasmania's Mercury Passage, 1965

A 1965 survey of Macrocystis pyrifera kelp beds near the Mercury Passage, east coast of Tasmania. The research was a joint program by Alginates (Australia) P/L and C.S.I.R.O. Division of Fisheries and Oceanography to investigate the relationship between kelp harvesting and crayfish larvae. Results are from an unpublished interim report, and an aerial survey was apparently used to determine stock distributions.

Use Cases

• Mapping historical kelp bed distribution based on the aerial survey mentioned in the description
• Studying the potential impact of kelp harvesting on crayfish stocks as described in the research program
• Analyzing coastal marine habitat changes over time using the 1965 survey as a baseline

Strengths

• Data originates from a joint research program between a commercial entity and a government research organization (C.S.I.R.O.).
• The dataset provides a specific temporal snapshot from 1965.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Aerial survey (apparently, though not specified in the original report).

Time Range

1965

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-22 01:10:24.657958; freshness should be verified

Geography

Vicinity of the Mercury Passage, east coast of Tasmania, Australia