The main sources of information for the species distribution are the habitat description and geographic range contained in the published FAO Catalogues of Species (more details at http://www.fao.org/fishery/fishfinder ). Terms used in the descriptive context of the FAO Catalogues were converted in standard depth, geographic and ecological regions and inserted into a Geographic Information System.

Regional Population Connectivity, Oceanic Habitat, and Return Migration Revealed by Satellite Tagging of White Sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, at New Zealand Aggregation Sites.

A joint NIWA/Department of Conservation (DOC) tagging programme was launched in 2005. Hi-tech electronic tags are being used to gather information on where the sharks are and when, and to record their depth and the temperature of the surrounding water. Three tag types have been used: popup archival tags, acoustic tags, and dorsal fin tags.

Popup tags are implanted in the muscle under the dorsal fin with a tagging pole, and record depth, temperature and location, storing the data for up to a year. They then release themselves from the shark, float to the surface, and transmit summaries of the data to a satellite. If the tags are physically recovered, the high resolution data collected at one minute intervals can be downloaded. Popup tags provide only approximate location data, so they are most useful for tracking long-distance migrations.

Acoustic tags send out coded, individually identifiable sound ‘pings’ that can be detected up to a kilometre away by acoustic data loggers. The tag batteries last long enough to monitor the presence of white sharks in the region in the vicinity of a data logger for two years. Acoustic tags provide accurate fine-scale information on sharks at specific locations.

Dorsal fin tags bridge the gap between popup and acoustic tags. They provide accurate location information by transmitting to orbiting satellites every time the shark is at the surface and the dorsal fin and the tag’s aerial are exposed to air. Their batteries can last for more than one year, so both fine scale and large scale movement patterns can be recorded. However, dorsal fin tags are more difficult to deploy: the shark has to be caught and restrained while the tag is attached to the dorsal fin. So far, only a few of these tags have been deployed in New Zealand.

Since 2005, 44 white sharks have been tagged with popup tags, mainly at the Chatham Islands and Stewart Island. These islands support large colonies of fur seals, which are a major food source for white sharks. Our research has focussed on Stewart Island since 2009. The population there is dominated by males (about 2.2 males for every female). Nearly all of the females are immature, being shorter than the female length at maturity of 4.5 to 5 m. Only about one-third of the males are longer than the male length at maturity of about 3.6 m. This indicates that the white shark aggregations at Stewart Island are not related to mating, and are most likely driven by the abundance of seals for food. Large, mature females are rarely seen anywhere in New Zealand and their distribution, habitat and behaviour are almost completely unknown.

Tagging results show that most New Zealand white sharks make annual migrations to tropical waters in winter, travelling as far as 3,300 km away. Sharks have migrated to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Coral Sea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Norfolk Island, Fiji and Tonga. They don't cross the equator.

Most of the sharks from Stewart Island headed northwest of New Zealand, whereas most Chatham Islands sharks headed north. However, some sharks from the two tagging locations overlap in the tropics. Surprisingly, we have not detected any direct movement between Stewart and Chatham islands.

Some popup tags have remained on the sharks for long enough (up to one year) to reveal that the sharks returned to their tagging locations after their tropical holiday. This has been confirmed by photo-identification work at Stewart Island. Each shark has a unique colour pattern, particularly around the gills and on the tail. Some individuals have been seen at Stewart Island each year for multiple years. This indicates that white sharks have a sophisticated navigation mechanism that enables them to make major direct oceanic migrations, and then return to precisely the spot they left from. We do not know how they achieve this.

This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project A14 - "Identification of near-shore habitats of juvenile white sharks in Southwestern Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. In early 2018, the CSIRO provided the first estimate of abundance for the southern-western adult white shark. Establishing an estimate of total abundance was not possible due to the lack of information of the juvenile life history stage in south-western Australia. The estimate of adult abundance also included trend (essentially zero or slightly negative), however, it was noted that to confirm the trend, a further decade of sampling would be required. This can be reduced if we identify near-shore habitats where juvenile white sharks from the southern-western population can be readily accessed. This pilot project will investigate credible anecdotal evidence of juvenile white sharks using near-shore habitat near the head of the Great Australia Bight, and inform future project development steps. The pilot project will include collaboration and the opportunity for capacity building with the Yatala Land Management group. The outcome of this pilot project will inform whether or not to proceed to future (on-water) activities. Planned Outputs • Spatial maps showing juvenile white-shark aggregation areas that include Australian marine park boundaries and zoning in jpeg format • Shapefile of juvenile white-shark aggregation areas provided to ERIN • High quality and project relevant images (still and video) suitable for communications purposes • Summary (and images) of opportunistic wildlife observations within the Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth waters) • Final report

This dataset shows the results of mapping the connectivity of key values (natural heritage, indigenous heritage, social and historic and economic) of the Great Barrier Reef with its neighbouring regions (Torres Strait, Coral Sea and Great Sandy Strait). The purpose of this mapping process was to identify values that need joint management across multiple regions. It contains a spreadsheet containing the connection information obtained from expert elicitation, all maps derived from this information and all GIS files needed to recreate these maps. This dataset contains the connection strength for 59 attributes of the values between 7 regions (GBR Far Northern, GBR Cairns-Cooktown, GBR Whitsunday-Townsville, GBR Mackay-Capricorn, Torres Strait, Coral Sea and Great Sandy Strait) based on expert opinion. Each connection is assessed based on its strength, mechanism and confidence. Where a connection was known to not exist between two regions then this was also explicitly recorded. A video tutorial on this dataset and its maps is available from https://vimeo.com/335053846.

Methods:

The information for the connectivity maps was gathered from experts (~30) during a 3-day workshop in August 2017. Experts were provided with a template containing a map of Queensland and the neighbouring seas, with an overlay of the regions of interest to assess the connectivity. These were Torres Strait, GBR:Far North Queensland, GBR:Cairns to Cooktown, GBC: Townsville to Whitsundays, GBR: Mackay to Capricorn Bunkers and Great Sandy Strait (which includes Hervey bay). A range of reference maps showing locations of the values were provided, where this information could be obtained. As well as the map the template provided 7x7 table for filling in the connectivity strength and connection type between all combinations of these regions. The experts self-organised into groups to discuss and complete the template for each attribute to be mapped. Each expert was asked to estimate the strength of connection between each region as well as the connection mechanism and their confidence in the information. Due to the limited workshop time the experts were asked to focus on initially recording the connections between the GBR and its neighbouring regions and not to worry about the internal connections in the GBR, or long-distance connections along the Queensland coast. In the second half of the workshop the experts were asked to review the maps created and expand on the connections to include those internal to the GBR. After the workshop an initial set of maps were produced and reviewed by the project team and a range of issues were identified and resolved. Additional connectivity maps for some attributes were prepared after the workshop by the subject experts within the project team. The data gathered from these templates was translated into a spreadsheet, then processing into the graphic maps using QGIS to present the connectivity information. The following are the value attributes where their connectivity was mapped: Seagrass meadows: pan-regional species (e.g. Halophila spp. and Halodule spp.) Seagrass meadows: tropical/sub-tropical (Cymodocea serrulata, Syringodium isoetifolium) Seagrass meadows: tropical (Thalassia, Cymodocea, Thalassodendron, Enhalus, Rotundata) Seagrass meadows: Zostera muelleri Mangroves & saltmarsh Hard corals Crustose coralline algae Macroalgae Crown of thorns starfish larval flow Acropora larval flow Casuarina equisetifolia & Pandanus tectorius Argusia argentia Pisonia grandis: cay vegetation Inter-reef gardens (sponges + gorgonians) (Incomplete) Halimeda Upwellings Pelagic foraging seabirds Inshore and offshore foraging seabirds Migratory shorebirds Ornate rock lobster Yellowfin tuna Black marlin Spanish mackerel Tiger shark Grey nurse shark Humpback whales Dugongs Green turtles Hawksbill turtles Loggerhead turtles Flatback turtles Longfin & Shortfin Eels Red-spot king prawn Brown tiger prawn Eastern king prawns Great White Shark Sandfish (H. scabra) Black teatfish (H. whitmaei) Location of sea country Tangible cultural resources Location of place attachment Location of historic shipwrecks Location of places of social significance Location of commercial fishing activity Location of recreational use Location of tourism destinations Australian blacktip shark (C. tilstoni) Barramundi Common black tip shark (C. limbatus) Dogtooth tuna Grey mackerel Mud crab Coral trout (Plectropomus laevis) Coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) Red throat emperor Reef manta Saucer scallop (Ylistrum balloti) Bull shark Grey reef shark

Limitations of the data:

The connectivity information in this dataset is only rough in nature, capturing the interconnections between 7 regions. The connectivity data is based on expert elicitation and so is limited by the knowledge of the experts that were available for the workshop. In most cases the experts had sufficient knowledge to create robust maps. There were however some cases where the knowledge of the participants was limited, or the available scientific knowledge on the topic was limited (particularly for the ‘inter-reefal gardens’ attribute) or the exact meaning of the value attribute was poorly understood or could not be agreed up on (particularly for the social and indigenous heritage maps). This information was noted with the maps. These connectivity maps should be considered as an initial assessment of the connections between each of the regions and should not be used as authoritative maps without consulting with additional sources of information. Each of the connectivity links between regions was recorded with a level of confidence, however these were self-reported, and each assessment was performed relatively quickly, with little time for reflection or review of all the available evidence. It is likely that in many cases the experts tended to have a bias to mark links with strong confidence. During subsequent revisions of some maps there were substantial corrections and adjustments even for connections with a strong confidence, indicating that there could be significant errors in the maps where the experts were not available for subsequent revisions. Each of the maps were reviewed by several project team members with broad general knowledge. Not all connection combinations were captured in this process due to the limited expert time available. A focus was made on capturing the connections between the GBR and its neighbouring regions. Where additional time was available the connections within 4 regions in the GBR was also captured. The connectivity maps only show connections between immediately neighbouring regions, not far connections such as between Torres Strait and Great Sandy Strait. In some cases the connection information for longer distances was recorded from the experts but not used in the mapping process. The coastline polygon and the region boundaries in the maps are not spatially accurate. They were simplified to make the maps more diagrammatic. This was done to reduce the chance of misinterpreting the connection arrows on the map as being spatially explicit.

Format:

This dataset is made up of a spreadsheet that contains all the connectivity information recorded from the expert elicitation and all the GIS files needed to recreate the generated maps.

original/GBR_NESP-TWQ-3-3-3_Seascape-connectivity_Master_v2018-09-05.xlsx: ‘Values connectivity’: This sheet contains the raw connectivity codes transcribed from the templates produced prepared by the subject experts. This is the master copy of the connection information. Subsequent sheets in the spreadsheet are derived using formulas from this table. 1-Vertical-data: This is a transformation of the ‘Values connectivity’ sheet so that each source and destination connection is represented as a single row. This also has the connection mechanism codes split into individual columns to allow easier processing in the map generation. This sheet pulls in the spatial information for the arrows on the maps (‘LinkGeom’ attribute) or crosses that represent no connections (‘NoLinkGeom’) using lookup tables from the ‘Arrow-Geom-LUT’ and ‘NoConnection-Geom-LUT’ sheets. 2.Point-extract: This contains all the ‘no connection’ points from the ‘Values connectivity’ dataset. This was saved as working/ GBR_NESP-TWQ-3-3-3_Seascape-connectivity_no-con-pt.csv and used by the QGIS maps to draw all the crosses on the maps. This table is created by copy and pasting (values only) the ‘1-Vertical-data’ sheet when the ‘NoLinkGeom’ attribute is used to filter out all line features, by unchecking blank rows in the ‘NoLinkGeom’ filter. 2.Line-extract: This contains all the ‘connections’ between regions from the ‘Values connectivity’ dataset. This was saved as working/GBR_NESP-TWQ-3-3-3_Seascape-connectivity_arrows.csv and used by the QGIS maps to draw all the arrows on the maps. This table is created by copy and pasting (values only) the ‘1-Vertical-data’ sheet when the ‘LinkGeom’ attribute is used to filter out all point features, by unchecking blank rows in the ‘LinkGeom’ filter. Map-Atlas-Settings: This contains the metadata for each of the maps generated by QGIS. This sheet was exported as working/GBR_NESP-TWQ-3-3-3_Seascape-connectivity_map-atlas-settings.csv and used by QGIS to drive its Atlas feature to generate one map per row of this table. The AttribID is used to enable and disable the appropriate connections on the map being generated. The WKT attribute (Well Known Text) determines the bounding box of the map to be generated and the other attributes are used to display text on the map. map-image-metadata: This table contains metadata descriptions for each of the value attribute maps. This metadata was exported as a CSV and saved into the final generated JPEG maps using the eAtlas Image Metadata Editor Application

Work has been undertaken through the marine bioregional planning program to identify, describe and map biologically important areas (BIA's) for protected species under the EPBC Act. BIA's spatially …Show full descriptionWork has been undertaken through the marine bioregional planning program to identify, describe and map biologically important areas (BIA's) for protected species under the EPBC Act. BIA's spatially and temporally define areas where protected species display biologically important behaviours (including breeding, foraging, resting or migration), based on the best available scientific information. These areas are those parts of a marine region that are particularly important for the conservation of protected species. In collecting information on BIA's the Department has explicitly aimed to collect information about known important areas and about areas that are likely to be or may be important for a protected species. This approach was taken to ensure that: the BIA's identified did not simply represent survey effort but identified areas that scientists consider are likely to be biologically important for a protected species. BIA's are accompanied by comprehensive data attributes which enable decision-makers and people proposing to undertake actions that may have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance to assess the relevance of the information to their specific circumstances. BIA's were initially captured on a regional basis and each region has a different list of regionally significant species. For more information about BIA's and their capture please refer to the Marine Bioregional plans http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/marine/marine-bioregional-plans and the associated report cards for each region. The following species have BIA's identified in the Coral Sea Marine Region: Note: A number of these species occur in the Great Barrier Reef. Dolphins Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) Indo-Pacific/Spotted Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) Marine Turtles: Flatback Turtle (Natator depressus) Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) Seabirds: Black-naped Tern (Sterna sumatrana) Black Noddy (Anous minutus) Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) Common Noddy (Anous stolidus) Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) Greater Frigatebird (Fregata minor) Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata ariel) Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscata) Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) Wilsons Storm Petrel (Oceanites oceanites) Sharks: Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) Whale Shark (Rhinocodon typus) White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Whales: Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) The following species have BIA's identified in the North Marine Region: Dolphins Australian Snubfin Dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) Indo-Pacific/Spotted Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) Marine Turtles Flatback Turtle (Natator depressus) Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) Seabirds Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) Common Noddy (Anous stolidus) Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) Lesser Crested Tern (Thalasseus bengalensis) Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata ariel) Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) The following species have BIA's identified in the North-west Marine Region: Dolphins Australian Snubfin Dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) Indo-Pacific/Spotted Bottlenose Dolphin (Turiops aduncus) Dugong Dugong (Dugong dugon) Marine turtles Flatback Turtle (Natator depressus) Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) Sawfish Dwarf Sawfish (Pristis clavata) Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis pristis) Green Sawfish (Pristis zijsron) Seabirds Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis) Greater Frigatebird (Fregata minor) Lesser Crested Tern (Thalasseus bengalensis) Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata ariel) Little Tern (Sternula albifrons sinensis) Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) Sharks Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) Whales Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) Pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Pygmy Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) The following species have BIA's identified in the South-east Marine Region: Dolphins Indo-Pacific/Spotted Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) Seabirds Antipodean Albatross (Diomedea exulans antipodensis) Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) Black-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) Buller's Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri) Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris impavida) Common Diving-petrel (Pelecanoides urinatrix) Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos bassi) Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) Short-tailed shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta cauta) Soft-plumaged Petrel (Pterodroma mollis) Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans (sensu lato)) White-faced Storm-petrel (Pelagodroma marina) White-fronted Tern (Sterna striata) Sharks Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Whales Pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) The following species have BIA's identified in the South-west Marine Region: Seabirds Australian Lesser Noddy (Anous tenuirorstris melanops) Black-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) Common Noddy (Anous stolidus) Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis) Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) Great-winged Petrel (macroptera race) (Pterodroma macroptera macroptera) Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos bassi) Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis tunneyi) Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus) Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) Soft-plumaged Petrel (Pterodroma mollis) Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscata) Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) Seals Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca cinerea) Sharks White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Whales Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) Pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Pygmy Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) The following species have BIA's identified in the Temperate East Marine Region: Dolphins Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) Indo-Pacific/Spotted Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) Marine Turtles: Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) Seabirds: Antipodean albatross (Diomedea exulans antipodensis) Black-winged Petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis) Black Noddy (Anous minutus) Black Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni) Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris impavida) Common Noddy (Anous stolidus) Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) Gould's Petrel (Pterodroma leucoptera leucoptera) Great-winged Petrel (Pterodroma macroptera) Grey Ternlet (Procelsterna cerulea) Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos bassi) Kermadec Petrel (Pterodroma neglecta neglecta) Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) Northern Giant Petrel (Macronectes halli) Providence Petrel (Pterodroma solandri) Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon ribricauda) Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscata) Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans (sensu lato)) Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) White-bellied Storm Petrel (Fregetta grallaria grallaria) White-necked Petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis) White Tern (Gygis alba) Wilsons Storm Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) Sharks: Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Whales: Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Note: A number of BIAs have been extended into neighbouring regions including the Great Barrier Reef. At this stage the polygons are attributed with the region where the majority of the polygon occurs however they may in future be split. All BIA data can be viewed and accessed via the National Conservation Values Atlas http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/marine/marine-bioregional-plans/conservation-values-atlas and are available under Departmental licence.Data is licenced under the department's restrictive Data Licence Deed See Data licence Departmental Deed © Commonwealth of Australia (Department of the Environment and Energy) 2015