parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...

Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 79
Flinders and Twofold Shelf Bioregions Marine Natural Values Study
This report used existing spatial data in a geographic information system (GIS) format to
assist in determining the physical and biological characteristics of natural values for each
MPA. The available spatial layers included:
• MNP and MS boundary (for calculating areas of MPAs; Parks Victoria, PV);
• Victorian Coastline at 1:25,000 (for calculating shoreline lengths; Department of
Sustainability & Environment, DSE);
• Marine substrata for Victoria’s open coast (derived from Landsat imagery and hydroacoustic
mapping, Marine & Freshwater Research Institute, MAFRI and CSIRO);
• Marine substrata for shallow marine habitats (derived from aerial photography and
Landsat imagery and video ground truthing; Primary Industries Research Victoria,
PIRVic for PV);
• Marine substrata and habitats in Victoria MNPs (from hydro-acoustic mapping, video
ground truthing and modelling as part of a joint venture between Parks Victoria and
the Coastal CRC; involving the University of Western Australia, Fugro Pty Ltd and
Deakin University);
• Bathymetry for Bass Strait (1:250,000) and bays and inlets (1:25,000) (MAFRI
database and sourced from Victorian Channel Authority and Australian Hydrographic
Office databases);
• Detailed bathymetry for shallow waters from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)
(DSE);
• Shoreline coastal type (Oil Spill Response Atlas – MAFRI);
• Vicmap watercourse 1:25000 (used to identify fresh water sources; metadata at
http://www.giconnections.vic.gov.au/content/vicgdd/record/ANZVI0803002490.htm);
• Shorebird habitats and roosts (Oil Spill Response Atlas and DSE);
• Victorian Threatened Fauna database point records (DSE);
• Atlas of Victorian Wildlife point records (DSE); and
• Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Sites of Significance (Minerals and
Petroleum Victoria).
In addition to these spatial databases, a number of digital datasets provided quantitative and
descriptive information about habitats and species in and around the MNPs and MSs. The
primary datasets used in this study:
• Subtidal Marine Monitoring Program (SRMP, Australian Marine Ecology, for PV).
• Sea Search Community Based Monitoring Program (PV)
• Monitoring and Assessment of Victoria’s Rocky Reefs (Monitoring and Assessment
of Victoria’s Rocky Intertidal reefs, MAVRIC, Museum Victoria)
The assessment of marine habitat distribution included new shallow (< 10 m) and deeper
subtidal mapping of bathymetry, substrates and biota as well as previous mapping. Not all
MPAs had the same data from monitoring, survey or research so a tiered approach was
taken, especially with the substrate and habitat descriptions and maps. All MPAs have broad
level (i.e. 1:250,000 scale) bathymetry and substrate mapping. All MPAs also have high
resolution bathymetric mapping in shallow waters derived from aerial LiDAR surveys. Some
MPAs have high resolution hydroacoustic mapping that, with video ground truthing, allows
the bathymetry and substrate to be mapped and modelled respectivelyat finer scales. This
substrate mapping and modelling can be extended to broad habitat mapping for some
MPAs. Descriptions of marine ecological communities were derived from new monitoring
and mapping reports as these generally had a greater level of detail and more sites than
previous research.
Species of conservation significance, particularly species distribution information, were
derived from new research, monitoring and mapping reports. Species from the Atlas of
Victorian Wildlife recorded near and within MPAs were included in the lists of species of
conservation significance for each MPA. Constraints were made on the database searches
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