Data Trawler - Survey Details

IN2025_V06    - is a Marine National Facility voyage

Title: The Coral Sea frontier: Deep-sea biodiversity assessment of the Coral Sea Marine Park

Period: 2025-10-10 10:00 to 2025-11-13 21:00 UTC

Duration: 34.46 days

From: Brisbane To: Brisbane

Region: Queensland coast; Coral Sea

Ship: Investigator (RV) [details]

Description: This project will investigate benthic marine life in the southern and eastern Coral Sea Marine Park, focussing on two of the parks three key ecological features: the reefs of the Marion Plateau and the Tasmantid Seamount Chain (200-3600 m). This will be the first modern deep-water investigation of marine life found on the extinct volcanic peaks of the northern Tasmantid Seamount Chain which rise over 3000 m from the seabed and the offshore Kenn Plateau making this voyage critical for understanding of regional biodiversity. We will deploy a suite of gear types to survey marine life, including towed camera, eDNA sampler, CTDs, trawls, and sleds. The faunal biodiversity information generated will be used to determine how biodiversity varies across these key ecological features and between the bioregions within the marine park. This information will also be used to examine endemicity levels in fishes and key invertebrate groups and assess whether seamounts and atolls support greater levels of local endemicity than the continental slope and offshore plateaus. A detailed comparison of biodiversity data obtained from extractive versus non-extractive gear types will determine if they provide comparable benthic faunal composition data. Additionally, the project will provide new detailed seabed mapping, particularly on the Marion Plateau where data are currently limited. The results of this project will contribute to primary outcomes of the Australian Marine Parks' Marine Science Program, by increasing understanding of marine park values, through detailed data on benthic communities present in the CSMP and enabling improved evidence-based decision making by addressing key priorities established by Parks Australia for the CSMP. The most significant outcome for Parks Australia will be the provision of vital data on the benthic communities of the Special Purpose Zones and the Tasmantid Seamount Chain for inclusion in the 2028 Coral Sea Marine Park Management Plan.

Objectives
1. Describe the benthic faunal biodiversity (fishes and key macroinvertebrate groups) from biological communities around atolls, seamounts, offshore plateaus, and the continental slope of the southern and eastern CSMP in the major bathomes.
2. Quantify the level of endemism of fishes and key macroinvertebrate groups in the southern and eastern CSMP.
3. Substantially contribute to the AusSeabed project by maximising new multibeam coverage to create detailed maps of seafloor topography and morphological habitat types of the Marion Plateau, Tasmantid Seamount Chain and Kenn Plateau.
4. Test predictive models linking biogeophysical parameters and deep-water benthic biodiversity.
5. Collect specimens for species identification and descriptions, and to archive specimens in biological collections, including tissue samples to build marine invertebrate and fish genetic reference libraries for the Coral Sea.
6. Conduct a detailed environmental DNA analysis across the study region in parallel with traditional biodiversity survey methods.
7. Compare the faunal data from each sampling method to determine the most appropriate for addressing research questions, in particular extractive vs. non-extractive methods.
8. Compare the biogeographical relationships of the benthic fauna found in the CSMP to other Australian bioregions.
9. Use population genomic methods to assess connectivity, diversity, and source and sink relationships between benthic invertebrate and fish species across the seamounts and atolls of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain to inform management decisions.

Leader: Dr White

Projects:

• The Coral Sea frontier: Deep-sea biodiversity assessment of the Coral Sea Marine Park [details] Primary

• A deep dive into chemosynthesis: how do microbes sustain current and future oceans? [details] Piggy-back

• Developing Jonathan: An On-vessel Automated Seabird Detector [details] Piggy-back

• Dropline survey of seamounts in the Coral Sea Marine Park [details] Piggy-back