Two mangrove sites and two seagrass sites were sampled in each region of the Gulf of Carpentaria; Weipa (between 1991 and 1994) and Groote Eylandt (between 1994 and 1995). The stable isotope ratios of seagrass, mangroves and prawns were measured, and the contribution of mangroves and seagrass to prawn food webs was estimated.

This dataset contains results from a series of laboratory and field experiments on local grazer communities to determine the parameter values required by the COASEC (Coastal Ocean Ecology) model. These experiments are part of the second stage of the Perth Coastal Waters Study. These parameters were delta, the grazing demand (biomass of food eatern per biomass of grazer per day; beta, the assimilation constant (the difference between the food consumed and defecated as a percentage of the food consumed); micron, the mortality constant (the turnover rate of the community), and kg, the ratio of food available to food demand to satisfy 50% of maximum potential growth of grazer communities. Empirically derived parameter values for the main grazers, crustaceans and gastropods were very different from each other and from the default values in the model. Experiments indicated that both types of grazers primarily fed on periphyton and grazing rates varied between summer and winter. Grazing impacts on larger epiphytes are dependent upon the type of grazer and the species of epiphyte.

Two studies were carried out (October 1993 and March 1994) each lasting 24 hours, at one site in the Embley River, Gulf of Carpentaria. Juvenile prawn samples were collected every 2 hours by hand scoop or beam trawl in the river. Data were collected on gut fullness, moult stage, and prey type and number.

Surveys of inshore fish catches, fish diets, and habitat and abiotic factors were carried out in the Norman River estuary, Gulf of Carpentaria, between 1991 and 1992.

Seagrass aerial surveys were used to produce maps of the Groote Eylandt area. Samples of juvenile and sub-adult prawns were taken by beam trawl at Groote Eylandt, Blue Mud Bay and Sir Edward Pellew Islands under various sampling regimes between 1983 and 1989.

The aims of this project are: (1) to identify and simulate key physical factors that have significant impacts on ecological processes on shelf and coastal areas of southwestern Western Australia (WA); and (2) to develop physical, ecological, and risk assessment models that can be used to assess impacts of multiple human use on coastal and shelf environments. The project consists of five main components: analysis of large scale climate forcing, development and application of regional and coastal circulation models, development of integrated biogeochemical/ecological models, development of coastal impact models, and risk assessment. This project will link existing field data, field observations from other SRFME projects, and output from new and existing models, with management objectives and needs defined by Western Australian stakeholders. Specific models to be developed include regional and coastal oceanographic models, biogeochemical / ecological models that links physical and ecological processes, and risk assessment models that link these models to human use of the marine environment. The project intends to build on methods and models already developed and/or used by other CMR projects such as the NWSJEMS and LWRDDC projects. These models will be adapted and extended to allow assessment of impacts of multiple use and natural forcing on nutrient cycling, production and habitat quality on shelf and coastal areas in southwestern WA. These tools will range from process-based simulation models to semi-empirical models, with a focus on making efficient use of existing data, and incorporating new data from large-scale observations such as acoustic and satellite data. The main deliverables of the project include analysis of large scale climate forcing, development and application of regional and coastal scale oceanographic, integrated biogeochemical/ecological, and coastal impact models and risk assessment methods.

Megabenthos was sampled using a beam trawl, at 105 sites throughout the Gulf of Carpentaria during the Southern Surveyor cruise SS 03/90. The infauna was identified, counted and weighed. The results were used in pattern analysis of the communities. Data on sediment grain size were also collected.

A stratified random grid survey of five areas in the Gulf of Carpentaria was carried out in June 1990 using demersal fish trawls with a 100mm codend on a commercial trawler. Lutjanids and other large commercial finfish were surveyed.

Juvenile tiger prawns were collected by beam trawl in the Embley River, Gulf of Carpentaria in October 1993, March 1994 and October/November 1994. The following parameters were measured: prawn numbers, carapace length, species, seagrass, biomass, salinity, temperature and depth. Field experiments were carried out using enclosure nets.