Mapping and characterising reef habitat and fish assemblages of the Hunter Marine Park

The Hunter Marine Park located in the Temperate East Marine Parks Network is situated between Port Stephens and Saltwater Point near Taree in New South Wales. The Hunter Marine Park is one of the few Australian Marine Parks that borders a state managed marine park. It borders the Port Stephens – Great Lakes Marine Park and thus extends the benefit of marine park protection much further offshore. The Hunter Marine Park is divided into two zones: 1) a Special Purpose Zone (Trawl) extending from the state waters boundary at 3 nm and across the continental shelf to the mid-slope (~1000 m), and 2) a Habitat Protection Zone that covers the lower continental slope with associated canyons and an area of the abyssal sea floor. Continental shelf rocky reefs were identified as a key ecological feature in the Hunter Marine Park management plan. Therefore, this study aimed at identifying and mapping areas of rocky reef using multibeam echo sounder and then ground truthing and identifying habitat features using towed video. Baited remote underwater stereo-video (stereo-BRUV) was also used to sample the fish assemblages on these rocky reefs. These data and information will help develop a monitoring program and better manage the Hunter Marine Park into the future.