Initial Baseline Survey of Deepwater Fish in the Ningaloo Commonwealth Marine Reserve (2018 - 2020)

The Ningaloo Commonwealth Marine Reserve (NCMR) lies offshore and adjacent to the state-managed Ningaloo Marine Park (Figure 1). The reserve extends for ~300 km along the west coast and the depth ranges from 50 to 500 m. The NCMR is zoned IUCN Category II – Recreational Use Zone and no commercial fishing is permitted. However, an increasing number of recreational fishers are choosing to move offshore from the state managed Ningaloo Marine Park into the deeper waters of the NCMR. This is concerning because very little is known about the composition and abundance of demersal fish the habitats and depths encompassed by the Commonwealth reserve. It is also one of the few Commonwealth Marine Reserves readily accessible to recreational fishers. We propose a non-extractive survey to establish baseline composition and abundances of fish in the NCMR, and align this with standardised surveys of fishing effort. The survey will employ Standard Operating Procedures for all mapping and sampling activities, as developed in NESP Project D2. Approximately 200 BARUV drops will be conducted in 2019.

宁格罗联邦海洋保护区（Ningaloo Commonwealth Marine Reserve, NCMR）坐落于州级管理的宁格罗海洋公园的近海及毗邻海域（图1）。该保护区沿西海岸绵延约300千米，水深范围为50至500米。宁格罗联邦海洋保护区被划定为国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）二级休闲使用区，禁止商业捕捞活动。然而，越来越多的休闲渔民正从州级管理的宁格罗海洋公园向该保护区的深水区转移作业。这一情况令人担忧，因为目前对该联邦保护区覆盖的生境与水深范围内的底栖鱼类组成及丰度仍知之甚少。同时，它也是少数便于休闲渔民抵达的联邦海洋保护区之一。我们提议开展一项非提取性调查，以确立宁格罗联邦海洋保护区内鱼类的基线组成与丰度，并将该调查与标准化捕捞努力量调查相结合。本次调查将采用NESP项目D2中制定的所有制图与采样活动的标准作业程序。2019年计划开展约200次带饵遥控水下视频（BARUV）投放采样。