Fish Biodiversity Surveys

The need for surveys

Marine environments all over the world are encountering ever-increasing strain brought on by human activities including fishing, mining, sedimentation, and pollution. Mankind has always viewed the sea as a limitless resource mainly because it covers 70% of the earth's surface. Unlike terrestrial ecosystems where disturbances can be seen immediately, the status of the underwater world remains a virtual mystery.

Our aquatic ecosystems are in a delicate balance where different species rely heavily on their environment and are inherently connected to each other through food webs. To safeguard our marine life we need to first learn more about it.

Enter CoastKeepers!

Marine surveys are an excellent way for the community to assist in providing large quantities of baseline scientific information on our marine life. From this information we can subsequently build up information to assess trends in the diversity and abundance of marine life along the NSW coast.

CoastKeepers Fish Surveys enable divers to monitor their marine life and provide valuable information to government databases and their community. The survey data will provide scientists and managers with important information necessary to assess the impacts of human activities in NSW. This will enable us to better understand, and therefore better protect, its marine life.

CoastKeepers Fish Surveys form part of the HarbourKeepers and CoastKeepers Fish Survey program. These identical surveys monitor the same 50 marine fish species within Sydney Harbour and along the NSW coast respectively. This means that all divers participating in either HarbourKeepers or CoastKeepers contribute information towards a statewide project.

Why are Marine Surveys Useful?
- Underwater visual monitoring by scuba divers has been shown to be a useful technique for assessing distribution and abundance of marine fish. There are currently similar programs in other Australian states and in other countries. CoastKeepers Fish Surveys fill this niche in NSW.

- Visual census is inexpensive and non-destructive. It also involves and educates the community about the marine environment

- Marine fish can be easy to identify and good indicators of ecological integrity

Information sought through the Surveys
These surveys aim to build a picture of NSW marine life. With little currently known about what lives in our oceans these surveys will help collect baseline scientific information on the distribution and abundance of its target species.

Over time, seasonal and annual trends can be seen and the data will provide a benchmark to assess the effectiveness of environmental management decisions.

Where does the data go?
Survey data is passed onto the Department of Primary Industries and added to BioNet, an online public database. BioNet allows users to search either for records of specific species, or for all species across a specific area of NSW. The results of a search can then be viewed either in the form of a listing, or as an interactive map.

Data for BioNet is regularly added by the Australian Museum, Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

All information collected on these dives is incorporated into BioNet via DPI so that it is available for both public use and to help inform decision makers about the range and abundance of marine life present in NSW.

Click here to visit the BioNet website.