WEST CAPE YORK MARINE PARK (WCYMP). Fish surveys of Carpentaria and Merkara Shoals,10 – 20 November 2022

AIMS conducted field surveys for Parks Australia in November 2022 to complete new bathymetric mapping via Multibeam Echo Sounder (MBES) across Merkara Shoal (4.2 x 3.2 km area) and a nearby Pockmarks feature (3.5 x 2 km area) 7km to the northeast of Carpentaria Shoal (initially identified by a transiting CSIRO vessel). This adds to the existing MBES bathymetry for Carpentaria Shoal completed by AIMS in 2019. Fish and benthic communities in the vicinity of Carpentaria Shoal, the Pockmarks, and Merkara Shoal were surveyed to bridge knowledge gaps for these poorly studied habitats within the WCYMP. Benthic communities were surveyed using a towed video camera (TowVid) and fish were surveyed using baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS).