Biological and habitat feature descriptions for the continental shelves of Australia’s temperate-water marine parks- including collation of existing mapping in all AMPs

Understanding the distribution of reef habitats and associated biota on the continental shelf is important for managing Australia’s Marine Park (AMP) network. This is because reef habitats on the continental shelf are highly productive when compared abyssal habitats, and are often subjected to disproportionate pressures from fishing, oil and gas and shipping sectors. This report documents the collation, synthesis and location of publicly available datasets describing the distribution of reef habitats and associated sessile and mobile biota on the continental shelf regions of AMPs in the Temperate east, South-east, and South-west marine planning regions. Additionally, this project has also been the identification of key gaps in our understanding of the physical mapping and sampling of reef-affiliated biota to assist in the prioritisation of future research programmes.