This dataset was created to document the scoring of a camera tow from SS2007/02 SE MPA's survey Specifically, the camera tow on Hill Patience, to derive data from the tow relating to the number of basket work eels observed. To collect this data, video footage from SS2007/02 SE MPA's camera tow on Patience Hill was observed on a monitor screen with lines marked on it - the video was stopped every five seconds, and marine fauna within the marked lines were counted, with the marked lines used in order to prevent double counting of the animals. This data was recorded in an excel spreadsheet, with a list of the different species recorded and the timecodes that they were recorded at. This data was then used in conjuction with other data from station 54 relating to the depth and structure of the seafloor, in order to determine any relation between marine life numbers and the surrounding habitat.

This record describes the acoustic data collected using the EM300 multibeam echosounder and the ES60 single beam echosounder during the NORFANZ voyage on the Norfolk Ridge and Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, in May-June 2003. Fourteen seamount and slope sites were surveyed using the EM300 multibeam echosounder, 10 on the Norfolk Ridge and 4 on the Lord Howe Rise. There is a total of 4 gigabytes of raw EM300 data. Sound velocity profiles were processed to make TIFF images of backscatter (bs - grey scale), digital terrain model (dtm - sun illuminated colored bathymetry) , and elevation model (ele - very dark images) for each of the 14 sites. Each tiff file has an associated TIFF world files (.tfw) for a mercator 41 degree projection with origin at 100 degrees east. ES60 data for the voyage is stored in a local directory. There are 666 MB of data in EK5 format, made up of 134 files of 5MB each.

Australia has gazetted an ambitious national network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves that includes the iconic Huon and Tasman Fracture reserves off Tasmania where seamounts (‘undersea mountains’) support unique deep-water coral reefs. These reefs rank among the most bio-diverse globally. Protection of deep-water coral reefs is a high-priority conservation concern nationally and internationally because deep-water corals are very fragile, easily impacted by human activities including bottom trawling, and are believed to recover very slowly. These corals may also be highly vulnerable to climate change because projected changes in water chemistry could limit the ability of corals to build calcareous skeletons. Despite these concerns, and Australia’s significant investment in marine conservation, several fundamental ecological issues remain to be evaluated. These include defining the spatial extent of deep-sea coral communities inside and outside the Tasmanian reserves, and evaluating the resilience of the communities to bottom trawling. This information is important to understanding the dynamics of deep-sea communities globally, and for developing and implementing conservation management plans. The survey aboard RV Investigator set out to determine the spatial extents of deep-sea coral communities in and adjacent to the Huon and Tasman Fracture reserves, and quantify changes in the communities by comparing samples taken in 2018 to samples taken, using similar methods, in 2007 and 1997. There was supplementary sampling on the heavily trawled St. Helens Seamount which was surveyed in 2008. This metadata record refers to the image data collected during the survey. The imagery collected for this project have been registered to the 2018 incidence of the CSIRO VARS database, where annotations have been added. The annotations collected for this project have also been linked to the Oracle data base BHIMAGE and the associated videos and still images have been archived as described in MarLIN record 14436 'Benthic Habitats Video Image Archive'.

This record describes the benthic assemblage survey data collected as part of the Tasmanian Seamounts Study undertaken by CSIRO Division of Fisheries in January 1997. 34 benthic dredge tows were made on the top, slope and base of 14 seamounts in the survey area, approx. 100 km to the south of Tasmania, using a specially constructed dredge, in water depths ranging from 600m to approx. 2000m. Numerous (>200) invertebrate taxa were recovered representing hydroids, octocorals, polychaetes, bryozoa, bivalve molluscs, cephalopods, barnacles, isopods, decapod crustaceans, crinoids, asteroids, echiuroids, holothurians, hydrozoans, brachiopods, chitons, gastropods, sponges, and other minor groups. The data have been analysed with respect to depth, fishing history (lightly or heavily fished areas), and position on the seamount, and two main community types documented, one dominated by living colonial coral (Solenosmilia variabilis) and one by echinoids (sea urchins). Many of the species found are new records for Australia and a number are new to science. The specimens of select taxa from this survey were re-examined to enable comparison of this survey to two surveys conducted in in the same area in 2006/7 (SS11/2006 & SS02/2007). Identification were upgraded and specimens compared to the new collections by museum experts and integrated into the data. To date (Sept. 2014) we are aware of 20 taxonomic revisions or descriptions that have been published using material from this collection.

This record describes the photographic transect survey data collected as part of the Tasmanian Seamounts Study undertaken by CSIRO Division of Fisheries in January 1997. Ten photographic transects were made from the base to pinnacle of 4 out of 14 seamounts in the survey area, approx. 100 km to the south of Tasmania, using a Photosea 2000 stereoscopic deepsea camera system, in water depths ranging from 2180 m to 714 m. The transects were typically oriented N-S and E-W on each seamount, with 2 transects replicated. Between 67 and 150 photos were taken per transect, at a mean range between photos of 27 m, at heights of 1 to 4 m off the bottom. The photographs were later assessed for percent cover by a range of bottom types, and for numbers of recognisable organisms of particular types. In 2008/09 the slide images were scanned and re-assessed for fauna and sediment types for comparison with image data collected on voyages SS11 / 2006 and SS2/2007. The image annotations collected for this project have been added to the Oracle data base BHIMAGE and the associated videos and still images have been archived as described in MarLIN record 14436 'Benthic Habitats Video Image Archive'.

The scientific objectives for the survey were split across two voyages (SS11/2006 for leg 1 and SS02/2007 for leg 2). They were to: (1) use advanced sampling tools and techniques that are, to the extent possible, non destructive (2) collect precisely georeferenced baseline data at scientific reference sites to enable indicators to be quantified (e.g. biodiversity metrics and levels of fishing effort at each site). These data will be documented and available for use for targeted monitoring during subsequent surveys (1) provide results that can assess the achievement of the TSMR management plan to date (revisit four seamounts photographed in 1997 - Main Pedra, Sister 1, K1 and D1; look for changes in fished and unfished sites) and refine baseline data (2) enable future assessment against performance objectives for the TSMR and selected proposed Commonwealth MPAs - Huon, Tasman Fracture and possibly South Tasman Rise and Freycinet depending on the time available at sea (3) test efficiency of the various biodiversity metrics to determine effectiveness, cost and potential for monitoring other deepwater reserves (4) provide samples for key taxa that can be used in subsequent genetic research to refine definition and extent of endemicity in deepwater fauna (5) complete swath mapping of relevant parts of continental slope between Hobart and SW Cape. This Metadata record describes the imagery data taken with the deep video-system and sediment data taken with a Smith-McIntyre grab. The image annotations collected for this project have been added to the Oracle data base BHIMAGE and the associated videos and still images have been archived as described in MarLIN record 14436 'Benthic Habitats Video Image Archive'. Sediment data has been processed by GA and integrated into the MARS data base.

The scientific objectives for the survey were split across two voyages (SS11/2006 for leg 1 and SS02/2007 for leg 2). They were to: * use advanced sampling tools and techniques that are, to the extent possible, non destructive * collect precisely georeferenced baseline data at scientific reference sites to enable indicators to be quantified (e.g. biodiversity metrics and levels of fishing effort at each site). These data will be documented and available for use for targeted monitoring during subsequent surveys * provide results that can assess the achievement of the TSMR management plan to date (revisit four seamounts photographed in 1997 - Main Pedra, Sister 1, K1 and D1; look for changes in fished and unfished sites) and refine baseline data * enable future assessment against performance objectives for the TSMR and selected proposed Commonwealth MPAs - Huon, Tasman Fracture and possibly South Tasman Rise and Freycinet depending on the time available at sea * test efficiency of the various biodiversity metrics to determine effectiveness, cost and potential for monitoring other deepwater reserves * provide samples for key taxa that can be used in subsequent genetic research to refine definition and extent of endemicity in deepwater fauna * complete swath mapping of relevant parts of continental slope between Hobart and SW Cape This metadata record refers to the acoustic swath and the video data collected during the first of the two surveys. The image annotations collected for this project have been added to the Oracle data base BHIMAGE and the associated videos and still images have been archived as described in MarLIN record 14436 'Benthic Habitats Video Image Archive'.