2020-07-07 P&E Agenda - Item 3 - Attachment 1 - TNC Project Management Plan

     •   Capture of information on recreationally important species and large, mobile animals such as sharks,
         rays and sea snakes, that normally avoid scuba divers or towed video cameras.
BRUVS
Single or stereo-BRUVS will be deployed at each monitoring site with a soak time of 60-minute periods to quantify
differences in fish abundances, species and sizes (if stereo-BRUVs are used). Nominally, BRUV drops should be
separated by >200 m radius from the camera (if deployed at the same time) to ensure independence of sampling
due to the bait plume. For national recommended BRUV sampling methods see:
https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/sites/default/files/FieldManuals_NESPMarineHub_Chapter5_BRUV_v1.pdf
RUVS
Single RUVS will be deployed at each site concurrently in all structured habitats requiring monitoring for 1 hour and
25 minutes at high tide. At each site, the targeted habitats (e.g. restored and remnant shellfish ecosystems, seagrass
meadows, mangroves and bare sediment) need to be adjacent to each other with the whole study site ranging from
0.5 to 1 km2 a minimum distance between habitats of 20 - 50 m should be maintained. If undertaking multiple
camera drops within a habitat a minimum distance of 5 m should be maintained to ensure independence. Cameras
are deployed (looking away from the sun) 1 m away from and facing the targeted habitat. Visibility can be measured
by a visibility meter at each site and habitat to ensure similar visibility between sampling locations.
The video footage will be analysed using SeaGIS EventMeasure (see http://www.seagis.com.au/event.html). In video
analysis, overestimates of abundance can occur through double counting fish. This occurs when the same
individual/s are viewed at different time points throughout a deployment. To overcome this, counts of the
maximum number (MaxN) of individuals of any one species seen over the recording period are used27.

Key Performance Indicators

i9. Total biomass/abundance of fish (g.m2 or g.m3 /ind.m2) – Total biomass of the fish assemblage over the area
of survey.


i10. Abundance of recreational/ commercially important fish – Biomass of species of fish that are of interest to
fishers (Snapper, King George Whiting, Flathead).


i11. Richness: increased mobile epifauna richness compared to control and before monitoring (Total number of
species) – Count of species found on the restoration site; a key measure of biodiversity.




27
  Langlois T, Williams J, Monk J, Bouchet P, Currey L, Goetze J, Harasti D, Huveneers C, Ierodiaconou D, Malcolm H,
Whitmarsh S. 2018. Marine sampling field manual for benthic stereo BRUVS (Baited Remote Underwater Videos). In Field
Manuals for Marine Sampling to Monitor Australian Waters, Przeslawski R, Foster S (Eds). National Environmental Science
Programme (NESP). pp. 82-104.

81 | Bring Back the Fish MER plan 2020 – 2022