This record is an overview entry for Simrad EM1002 multibeam echosounder data collected on Southern Surveyor cruise SS 01/2000. This voyage took place off around the south-east coast of Australia including Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian waters, in the areas of the south eastern "large marine domain" and the Great Australian Bight Marine Park, during April - May 2000, under the leadership of Rudy Kloser (legs 1 and 3) and Alan Williams (leg 2). Data-set primarliy consists of multibeam echosounder data from approx 30m to 600m water depth from the Simrad EM1002 95kHz multibeam echosounder. Key data outputs are high resolution bathymetry and acoustic seabed backscatter. 15 main sites were intensively mapped with complementary ground truth information comprising video, sediment grab, benthic sled and still photoes being taken

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'.

Towed camera transects were conducted on the shelf of the Great Australian Bight (GAB) as part of the 'GAB Mapping Project' (FRDC Project No 2006/036). To further our understanding and knowledge of fishing grounds, terrain types and habitats in the GAB, this project proposed to include a camera survey, involving industry. A portable camera system developed by CSIRO during and for a previous fishing grounds mapping project in the SEF was available to be used from an industry vessel. This metadata record refers to the image data collected during the survey. The image annotations collected for this project will 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'.

Towed camera transects were conducted in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and near St Helen's Hill seamount during the pilot survey for estimating the effectiveness of spatial closures for deepwater gulper sharks and associated fishery species. There are large gaps in ecological knowledge of gulper sharks which limit the effective design of area closures (e.g. optimising sizes and numbers) and assessment of their performance. The survey aimed to fill these gaps do this by characterising the habitats and ecosystem processes in 200-700 m depths that sustain key species, and commencing a process to determine the relevant aspects of species ecology. Primarily this will be (1) to measure the movement of fish within and to/ from a large closed area in the GAB with a tagging program, and (2) estimate the abundance of selected species in relation to habitat features (substructure within submarine canyons, escarpments and rocky banks, and adjacent water column features) with two independent, non-extractive photographic methods. This metadata record refers to the image data collected during the survey. The image annotations collected for this project will 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'.

The overall aims were to provide data on the distribution of deep seabed habitats and fauna that are amenable to scientific hypothesis testing, can be immediately applied to marine resource management processes, and that enable strategic development of tools and techniques for understanding the processes that maintain deep sea biodiversity. This work was to support the process of NWR Estate inventory and management performance assessment by providing interpreted benthic habitat maps, faunal inventories, distribution maps and conservation values. Data will be collected at scientific reference sites from potential MPA areas that can be re-visited for monitoring purposes in the future. Sampling along environmental gradients (geographic range and depth) in this section of Australia's coast will also provide the opportunity to evaluate biogeographic hypotheses. Further refinement of predictive methods for identifying seabed habitat types, initially developed in temperate and cool-temperate environments, will be enabled by data collection from this tropical location in Australia. We intended to highlight the importance of this underlying science as a modern 'Voyage of Discovery' given the likely significance of the findings in terms of Australia's biodiversity and its biogeography and evolution. (From Voyage Plan) This record describes the video and still imagery collected with the CSIRO deep-towed camera system. Imagery has not been systematically annotated or scored. The associated videos and still images have been archived as described in MarLIN record 14436 'Benthic Habitats Video Image Archive'

The collaborative voyage, on RV Thomas G Thompson, including US and Australian researchers was led by chief scientists Dr Jess Adkins from the California Institute of Technology and Dr Ron Thresher from CSIRO's Climate Adaptation and Wealth from Oceans Flagships. This voyage follows up on work done on RV Southern Surveyor during SS 01/2008. The survey deployed the ROV Jason in the Huon and Tasman Fracture Commonwealth Marine Reserve, south-west of Tasmania, It also sampled areas of the Cascade Seamount and seamounts off the coast at St Helens (Tas). The focus of the survey was collection of fossil corals (Desmophyllum sp.), description of habitats at depth between 700 and 4000 m depth and establishing two long-term monitoring sites in the Huon CMR (settlement plates). It explored and sampled on the near vertical slice in the earth's crust, known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, which drops from approximately 2000 metres to over 4000 metres. Jason was used to collect video, high definition still images (mosaiced images) and selective samples of fossil corals and invertebrate fauna.