Assessing the effects of changes in Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning plans on southern mid-shelf shoals (MTSRF Project 4.8.2)

Surveys were undertaken in February/March 2007 (Autumn), August/September 2007 (Spring) and October 2009 (Spring) on two pairs of discrete deepwater shoals in the mid-shelf section of the southern Great Barrier Reef. The objective was to find pairs of shoals that were matched in terms of depth, habitat, areal extent, cross shelf position and latitude. Within each pair, one shoal was to be from a 'green zone' (closed to all fishing) and the other from a 'blue zone' (open to fishing), based on the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, carried out in 2004. The pairs of reefs chosen were: East Warregos (green) and West Warregos (blue); Barcoo Bank (green) and Karamea Bank (blue).

The bathymetry of each shoal was surveyed in detail by multibeam acoustic swathe mapping prior to sampling of fish and benthic habitat.

A lightweight towed video system developed by AIMS was used to survey seabed habitats on and around the four shoal sites over the first two trips.

Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS (TM)) were used to sample the fish communities on each shoal on all three cruises.