Putting a face to the biodiversity assets in Australia’s southern Marine Parks
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Ever wondered what the weird and wonderful inhabitants of Australia’s Marine National Parks look like? Scientists are developing an easy access, high-quality catalogue of media-ready content to put a face to the unique and quirky organisms that call the deep reefs of Australia’s southern Marine Parks home. Led by scientists from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the University of Western Australia’s The Ocean’s Institute, the project is designed to bring the science of our marine parks to life.
Funded through the Australian Government’s Our Marine Parks Grant round 3, the ongoing project has generated thousands of short video highlights from ongoing monitoring efforts of Australian Marine Parks by scientists around southern Australia. It has also leveraged the Integrated Marine Observing Systems (IMOS) Understanding of Marine Imagery Facility platform, SQUIDLE+, to generate highlight still imagery from autonomous underwater vehicles and other platforms supported by the Facility. All interactive content is publicly available through Seamap Australia. Dive in and explore: Seamap Australia.
Keep revisiting Seamap Australia in the coming months to see what else appears…
Where
South-west, South-east and Temperate east Marine Park networks.
Who
Dr Jacquomo Monk (University of Tasmania) and Dr Tim Langlois (University of Western Australia)
When
Since 2022 and ongoing
Why
The content ‘puts a face’ to the unique ecosystems within the deep reefs of Australia’s South-west, South-east and Temperate East Marine Park networks. It will improve Parks Australia’s access to a wide range of spatially-located media products for ongoing use to increase awareness, understanding and support for Australian Marine Parks and marine park natural values.
How
The ongoing project has produced thousands of spatially-located short video highlights from extensive baited remote stereo videos collected by researchers across southern Australia. It has also utilised the Integrated Marine Observing System's Understanding of Marine Imagery Facility platform, SQUIDLE+, to dynamically generate highlight stills from autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely controlled vehicles and diver and towed platforms. All this content is publicly available through Seamap Australia and soon to be integrated into State of Knowledge Reports (e.g. South-east Report).
What did we learn
The project will improve Parks Australia’s access to a wide range of media products for ongoing use to increase community awareness, understanding and support for Australian Marine Parks and marine park values.
What next
The ongoing project is integrating further with Seamap Australia to enable interactive exploration of imagery, producing some amazing multimedia posters and creating short films that explore some of the quirky organisms within the Marine Parks.