From Australian Oceans Data Network
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Deeper water fish and benthic surveys in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters)

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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In February/March 2004, surveys of benthic habitats and fish faunas were undertaken in deeper waters of the Commonwealth waters surrounding Lord Howe and Balls Pyramid rises. With limited time available to undertake the work, local knowledge from resident fishermen was employed to target areas of bathymetric and piscatorial interest across both rises.A towed underwater video camera, with a still camera attached was used to obtain video and still images of habitats and epibenthos. Baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS (TM)) were used as a non-extractive method to sample the fish and shark fauna.Plans to use a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for further surveys were abandoned due to adverse weather conditions. This preliminary, rapid ecological assessment aimed to describe habitats and fish-habitat associations in deeper waters, below the depth limits of SCUBA observations, where little information was previously available. The Lord Howe Island and Balls Pyramid rises, 770 km ENE of Sydney, are the most southerly of a chain of volcanic seamounts and are remarkable for supporting the highest latitude coral reefs in the world. The World Heritage listing, encompassing Lord Howe Island, the Admiralty group and Balls Pyramid, overlaps sections of the NSW State Marine Park to 3nm offshore and the Commonwealth Marine Park to 12nm offshore. The Commonwealth Marine Park has two sanctuary zones, one to the east of the island and the other across the rise south of Balls Pyramid. The primary objective of the Parks is to protect the conservation values of the seamount system associated with marine biodiversity, seafloor habitats and ecological processes.

Files and APIs

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Deeper water fish and benthic surveys in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters)
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/f04ff5ef-e152-46a5-9186-52b5554a35f0
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
adc@aims.gov.au
Reference Period 20/11/2017
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
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        159.0047,
        -31.788
      ],
      [
        159.342,
        -31.788
      ],
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        159.342,
        -31.3992
      ],
      [
        159.0047,
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      ],
      [
        159.0047,
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      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Deeper water fish and benthic surveys in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters)". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/deeper-water-fish-and-benthic-surveys-in-the-lord-howe-island-marine-park-commonwealth-waters1