BRUVS deployments in Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (Timor Sea), Western Australia (NERP)

Stereo-Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) were deployed and retrieved in targeted shallow seabed environments within the proposed Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea. The survey concentrated on shelf habitats (< 200m) of the western part of the Oceanic Shoals CMR and included potential biodiversity hotspots such as pinnacles, banks and shoals. In total, 56 stereo-BRUVS were deployed between 31 and 77 metres for one hour according to a regular random sampling design, with minimum spacing of 400 m to ensure independence among samples. This yielded 56 hours of video footage which was subsequently analysed and all species and their relative abundances recorded. The Marine Biodiversity Survey of the proposed Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea was a research collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Geoscience Australia (GA), University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MGNT). The survey was undertaken between 12 September and 6 October 2012 on the AIMS Research Vessel, RV Solander, and formed part of the National Environmental Research Program (NERP) Marine Biodiversity Hub Theme 4: Regional Biodiversity Discovery to Support Marine Bioregional Plans.本研究在帝汶海拟建的大洋浅滩联邦海洋保护区（CMR）内的目标浅海海底环境中，部署并回收了立体诱饵式远程水下视频站（BRUVS）。本次调查聚焦大洋浅滩联邦海洋保护区西部的陆架生境（水深<200米），涵盖尖礁、水下沙洲与浅滩等潜在生物多样性热点区域。总计56台立体诱饵式远程水下视频站（BRUVS）按照标准随机抽样设计，在31至77米水深区间部署，单次部署时长为1小时，采样点最小间距设置为400米以确保样本独立性。本次调查累计获取56小时的视频影像，后续对影像进行了分析，并记录了所有物种及其相对丰度。本次针对帝汶海拟建大洋浅滩联邦海洋保护区（CMR）的海洋生物多样性调查，是由澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（AIMS）、澳大利亚地球科学局（GA）、西澳大利亚大学（UWA）以及北领地博物馆与美术馆（MGNT）联合开展的科研合作项目。本次调查于2012年9月12日至10月6日期间，搭乘澳大利亚海洋科学研究所的“索兰德号”（RV Solander）研究船完成，属于国家环境研究计划（NERP）海洋生物多样性中心主题4：支撑海洋生物区划规划的区域生物多样性发现项目的组成部分。