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Project details
| Title: | Monitoring the recovery of a globally unique deep-sea eel aggregation in the Huon Marine Park |
| Id: | 2646 |
| Investigator(s): | Ben Scoulding
CSIRO Environment [details] |
| Description: | This piggyback project supports a CSIRO project funded by the Director of National Parks, entitled ‘Recovery of deep-sea fish aggregations in marine parks: Key Natural Values quantitatively monitored under Parks Australia’s MERI program’. It is a repeat of the successful Piggyback projects conducted on IN2023_V03 and IN2024_V02. We aim to conduct a short acoustic survey of Patience Seamount within the ‘Huon’ Marine Park (Huon MP) south of Tasmania. The Huon MP has been identified as the only known location of a spawning aggregation of the basketwork eel, Diastobranchus capensis – a globally distributed and ecologically important deep-sea species. As such it represents a key natural value in Australia – one with a hypothesised trajectory of ‘improving status’ following decades long impact from bottom trawling before the Huon MP was established. The spatial concentration of eels in the aggregation (~2-3 km2) and their high acoustic reflectivity are highly attractive characteristics that will enable the aggregation to be measured quantitatively with a hydroacoustic sensor (echosounder) and with very little further extractive sampling. In addition to the acoustic survey of Patience Seamount we will deploy MNFs deep-water towed camera into the eel aggregation on Patience Seamount. The camera platform gives real-time video through a fibre-optic cable allowing a consistent height above the seabed to be maintained and has been successfully used to survey the aggregation in the past (IN2018_V06 and IN2024_V02). Stereo camera measurements will allow measures of fish length and orientation while providing a census of species. Concurrent operation of the RV Investigator’s EK80s echosounders during the deployment of the deep-water towed camera platform can identify the aggregations to be targeted. |
| Years: | 2025 |
| Hierachy: | Fisheries Acoustics And Optics, Biodiversity, Imagery, A & A |
List of surveys that this project was on.
Use [details] link to view survey details (map, reports, metadata etc) including links to download data.
| Survey | Investigator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IN2025_V02 [details] |
Elizabeth Shadwick | The primary objective is to first deploy a new set of SOTS moorings (SOFS-14 and SAZ-27) and then recover the existing SOTS moorings (SOFS-13, and SAZ-26). Each of the SOTS moorings deliver to specific aspects of the atmosphere-ocean exchanges: • the SAZ sediment trap mooring collects samples to quantify the transfer of carbon and other nutrients to the ocean interior by sinking particles and investigate their ecological controls. • the Southern Ocean Flux Station (SOFS) mooring measures meteorological and ocean properties important to air-sea exchanges, ocean stratification, waves, currents and biological productivity and ecosystem structure. Water samples are collected for more detailed nutrient and plankton investigations after recovery. Ancillary work will obtain supporting information on atmospheric and oceanographic conditions using CTD casts, and underway measurements. 1. Deploy SOFS-14 meteorology/biogeochemistry mooring 2. Deploy SAZ-27 sediment trap mooring 3. Recover SOFS-13 meteorology/biogeochemistry mooring 4. Recover SAZ-26 sediment trap mooring 5. CTD sampling (3 cast to 4550m, 2 to 600m) at the SOTS site, including collecting samples for nutrients, oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and eDNA analyses 6. Ship meteorological observations at SOFS buoys for comparisons 7. Deployment of BGC-Argo Float (with additional UVP sensor recently refurbished after the SOLACE float was recovered). 8. Recovery of ACC-SWOT mooring at 55S site (deployed on the FOCUS IN2023_V07 voyage). 9. Deployment of BoM drifters at site of ACC-SWOT mooring recovery; CTD cast for post-calibration of recovered sensors. 10. Carry out underway air and water sampling and sensor measurements, including bio-optics and bio-acoustics |