parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...
parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...
parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...
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Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 79<br />
Flinders and Twofold Shelf Bioregions Marine Natural Values Study<br />
2.1.2 MARINE HABITAT DISTRIBUTION<br />
Mapping of habitats is important for understanding and communicating the distribution of<br />
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>values</strong> within Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries, particularly as the <strong>marine</strong><br />
environment is not as easily visualised as the terrestrial environment (Parks Victoria 2003).<br />
For management purposes, knowledge of the distribution and extent of habitats is required<br />
to more effectively target management activities, including emergency response, monitoring<br />
and research. Mapping of <strong>marine</strong> habitats provides a baseline inventory, allows the<br />
identification of suitable monitoring sites and possible tracking of environmental change, as<br />
well as identifying areas vulnerable to particular threats or suitable for recreational activities.<br />
The main habitats present in Wilsons Promontory MNP include some intertidal soft sediment<br />
and reef, extensive subtidal soft sediment and reef, and open ocean (Figure 8). LiDAR<br />
mapping of the coastline has been done but it is limited by depth to shallow habitats in<br />
Oberon and Norman Bays on the west side of Wilsons Promontory MNP, in Waterloo Bay on<br />
the east side of the park and some areas around the tip of Wilsons Promontory (Figure 6).<br />
This represents a very small proportion of the park, the surveys found heavy reef with some<br />
low profile reef. No modelling of habitats has been done, so unlike other <strong>parks</strong>, we do not<br />
have a good understanding of the distribution and extent of basic habitats within the MNP.<br />
The majority of the Wilsons Promontory MNP substrate has been mapped as soft sediment,<br />
but this may change with additional more detailed acoustic mapping. The subtidal sand<br />
plains extend to at least 20 m depth and are composed of both coarse and fine calcarenite<br />
sediments Plummer et al. (2003).<br />
Figure 7. Crayweed Phyllospora comosa in Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park<br />
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