BRUVS deployments in Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (Timor Sea), Western Australia (NERP)

Stereo-Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) were deployed and retrieved in targeted shallow seabed environments within the proposed Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea. The survey concentrated on shelf habitats (< 200m) of the western part of the Oceanic Shoals CMR and included potential biodiversity hotspots such as pinnacles, banks and shoals. In total, 56 stereo-BRUVS were deployed between 31 and 77 metres for one hour according to a regular random sampling design, with minimum spacing of 400 m to ensure independence among samples. This yielded 56 hours of video footage which was subsequently analysed and all species and their relative abundances recorded.

The Marine Biodiversity Survey of the proposed Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea was a research collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Geoscience Australia (GA), University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MGNT). The survey was undertaken between 12 September and 6 October 2012 on the AIMS Research Vessel, RV Solander, and formed part of the National Environmental Research Program (NERP) Marine Biodiversity Hub Theme 4: Regional Biodiversity Discovery to Support Marine Bioregional Plans.