CSIRO, Cruise SS200803, Marine Biological Survey, Great Australian Bight; South Australian and Tasmanian continental slope, 2008

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Benthic biota samples were taken in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and near St Helen’s Hill seamount during the pilot survey for estimating the effectiveness of spatial closures for deepwater gulper sharks and associated fishery species. There are large gaps in ecological knowledge of gulper sharks which limit the effective design of area closures (e.g. optimising sizes and numbers) and assessment of their performance. The survey aimed to fill these gaps do this by characterising the habitats and ecosystem processes in 200-700 m depths that sustain key species, and commencing a process to determine the relevant aspects of species ecology. Primarily this will be (1) to measure the movement of fish within and to/ from a large closed area in the GAB with a tagging program, and (2) estimate the abundance of selected species in relation to habitat features (substructure within submarine canyons, escarpments and rocky banks, and adjacent water column features) with two independent, non-extractive photographic methods. This metadata record describes the benthic biota samples taken at during this survey.

Epibenthic biota were collected using epibenthic sled (5 ops) and macro-infauna were extracted by elutriation of sediment collections taken using the Smith-MacIntyre grab (13 ops). The invertebrate specimens were distributed to Museum collections for registration and curation. Data on specimen identifications by taxonomic experts are tracked, collated and archived at the CSIRO.

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