Integrated Reef Fish Monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef
Conference Contribution ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Monitoring of natural ecosystems provides fundamental knowledge to assess the status and trends in biological communities, changes in environmental conditions, and the responses of ecosystems to extrinsic and intrinsic stressors. In 2021 several knowledge gaps were identified for reef fish monitoring on the Great Barrier Reef, including lack of knowledge of deep-water inter-reef fishes, fish assemblages in coastal nursery seascape and fringing reefs around continental islands. These knowledge gaps were addressed by establishing an Integrated Reef Fish Monitoring Program across much of the GBR for fish species of recreational, commercial, biocultural, and ecological significance. A collaborative multi-institutional project team has provided new insights into important fishery species such as tropical snapper, red emperor and coral trout. The project has also worked closely with Traditional Owners to co-develop the sample design in the Nursery Seascape component, as well as provide hands on training for Traditional Owner Sea Rangers. Preliminary analyses have revealed a holistic view of spatial distributions of reef fish assemblages, but also have drawn ontogenetic linkages between coastal nursery seascapes and adult populations further offshore, as revealed by the habitat use of rarely observed juveniles of important target species and large aggregations of adults offshore in deep inter-reef waters. This project is providing the first characterisations of reef fish assemblages of previously unexplored coastal nursery and deep-water inter-reef habitats.
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ASFB 2023: Australian Society for Fish Biology Conference 2023
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1
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Auckland, New Zealand
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Australian Society for Fish Biology
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Auckland, New Zealand
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