Dugong aerial survey observations in Northern Australian - Aggregated data product (1984 - ongoing) (NESP MaC 5.9, IMOS)
Updated: 2026-10-21
This dugong (Dugong dugon) aerial survey database compiles observations collected by James Cook University (JCU) from systematic aerial surveys conducted along the Australian coast since 1984. Each survey is represented by a unique survey identifier (eventID), with multiple occurrence records derived from individual sightings made during that survey. Surveys were undertaken across nine broad regions: Shark Bay (WA), Exmouth (including Ningaloo) (WA), Pilbara (WA), Gulf of Carpentaria (NT/QLD), Torres Strait (QLD), Northern Great Barrier Reef (QLD), Southern Great Barrier Reef (QLD), Hervey Bay (QLD), and Moreton Bay (QLD). An individual survey may cover part of a region, an entire region, or multiple regions. This product represents an updated and enhanced version of the Dugong Aerial Survey Database, extending temporal coverage beyond earlier releases (to 2019) through the inclusion of additional surveys conducted up to 2023. Historical Dugong Data Management System records and JCU geospatial survey datasets were harmonised into a standardised, occurrence‑based format aligned with Darwin Core conventions. The dataset has been spatially enriched with Australian Marine Regions classifications, enabling direct alignment with national marine reporting and management geographies, and includes an H3 spatial index at resolution 4 (approximately 250 km² cell area) to support efficient spatial aggregation and multi‑scale analysis. A curated set of rejected records is retained and published separately to preserve full traceability to source data and processing decisions.
Data
- Dugong Aerial Survey Database, JCU
- View and download data though the AODN Portal
- Access To AWS Open Data Program registry for the Cloud Optimised version of this dataset (link to be added)
- Data files via Amazon Web Services S3 storage - download link (full dataset)
- Data files accessible via Amazon S3 (public access, S3 URI)
- Access to Jupyter notebook to query Cloud Optimised converted dataset
- Technical description of product
- Cleguer and Marsh, 2023 Report
- Full metadata link
- https://licensebuttons.net/l/by/4.0/88x31.png
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- {"title":"NESP MaC Project 5.9 – Making marine environmental data more assessment ready, 2025 (UTAS, IMOS)","recordAbstract":"The 2020 Independent Review of the EPBC Act (the Samuel Review) states that “Decision-makers, proponents and the community do not have access to the best available data, information and science. This results in sub-optimal decision-making, inefficiency and additional cost for business, and poor transparency for the community. Immediate investment in the information supply chain is needed to support reform. We can't wait until perfect data is available. What is missing at the moment, is the step required to routinely turn well-managed marine research data into marine environmental data and products, that can be consumed by the EIA national environmental data supply chain and made available for use in SOE reports, Environmental Economic Accounts, environmental assessments, and tracking of environmental trends and outcomes.\n\nThis project will address that gap by (a) identifying priority datasets currently managed as research data and (b) building the additional information infrastructure required to (c) routinely deliver marine environmental data and products that are assessment ready, in line with the Nature Positive Plan.\n\nPlanned Outputs\n\n• Final technical report with analysed data and summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]"}
- {"title":"IMOS - Understanding of Marine Imagery (UMI) Sub-Facility - Australian region - Aggregated kelp data product (2008 - ongoing)","recordAbstract":"The IMOS Understanding of Marine Imagery Sub-Facility provides a national repository for marine imagery and annotations, facilitating the sharing of quantitative data on species and habitat distributions. Squidle+ serves as the foundational software platform for this sub-facility, providing an end-to-end environment for the delivery, management, and annotation of marine imagery.\n\nThe platform integrates disparate data sources, including autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), baited remote underwater videos (BRUVs), towed systems, and diver-based photo quadrats (e.g., Reef Life Survey (RLS)), by standardising formats and enabling cross-walks between different label vocabularies. This ensures unified datasets that can be synthesised at a national scale across diverse research projects.\n\nThis specific product aggregates kelp-related annotations from public Squidle+ surveys, translated into the Darwin Core standard for enhanced interoperability. Data are filtered via a curated allow-list, taxonomically aligned with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS, https://www.marinespecies.org/about.php#what_is_worms), and normalised temporally and spatially using a H3 index. Australian Marine Region Tags have also been added which allows spatial filtering of the data based on known marine regions (for example, commonwealth marine regions).The resulting analysis-ready resource supports the study of canopy-forming macroalgae and benthic habitat structure across Australian waters.\n\nThe allow-list targets canopy-forming and habitat-forming macroalgae from the phylum Ochrophyta, class Phaeophyceae, with particular emphasis on the orders Laminariales and Fucales. Key taxa represented include Ecklonia radiata, Phyllospora comosa, Macrocystis pyrifera, Durvillaea spp., Cystophora spp., Scytothalia dorycarpa, Lessonia corrugata and Perithalia caudata, among others. The geographic occurrence coverage spans the temperate and subtropical coastal waters of southern and eastern Australia, from approximately 113°E to 153°E and 44°S to 27°S, encompassing the major kelp forest ecosystems of the Great Southern Reef, the south-east Australian coast and the eastern seaboard."}
- {"title":"Australian Search and Rescue Region: Vessel Tracking - Aggregated data product (2012 - ongoing) (NESP MaC 5.9, IMOS)","recordAbstract":"The vessel tracking data in this product originates from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) Craft Tracking System (CTS) and Mariweb databases. These systems collect Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals from ships using both terrestrial and satellite receivers. AIS data from these sources, covering the period from September 2012 to the most recently completed month, provides vessel position reports across the entire Australian Search and Rescue Region. This extensive spatial footprint captures vessel traffic across major international shipping lanes, coastal navigation corridors, fishing grounds and offshore resource extraction areas. Each record represents a single vessel position defined by geographic coordinates and the time of transmission in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).\n\nTo create a consistent and usable dataset, the monthly AMSA vessel tracking files have been processed and standardised into a set of single annual datasets. This processing includes ingesting the source Shapefiles from AMSA’s operational data service, cleaning and validating the vessel position reports, converting timestamps to UTC, applying H3 spatial indexing (resolution 4, ~1,700 km2), and ensuring all records follow a uniform data schema. Any invalid or duplicate reports identified during this workflow are separated into a dedicated rejected records dataset. The resulting product is a harmonised, reliable, and reproducible record of vessel movements throughout the Australian Search and Rescue Region over more than a decade."}
- {"title":"Australasian Seabird Occurrences (including migratory species) - Aggregated data product (1939 - ongoing) (NESP MaC 5.9, IMOS)","recordAbstract":"This aggregated product collates observed seabird sightings from multiple CSIRO‑hosted Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) datasets spanning historical to contemporary programs, unifying platform‑based visual surveys, voyage‑based watch observations (WOV), archival ship logs, and animal‑borne tracking into one analysis‑ready resource. Ship‑based visual surveys (including standardised watch-observations from research vessels) record species identity, counts and behaviour along vessel tracks, with observation effort and environmental context captured as measurement‑or‑fact where available (e.g., Research vessel voyages: Investigator, Falkor, Franklin, Southern Surveyor and Aurora Australis). Historical atlas and ship‑log compilations extend temporal coverage back to the 1970s and earlier through curated digitisation of paper records and atlases.\n\nThe product targets the class Aves with a focus on orders Procellariiformes (albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters) and Charadriiformes (shorebirds, gulls, terns), though records span all marine-associated avian taxa observed during at-sea surveys. The geographic coverage is primarily concentrated in Australian marine waters and the Southern Ocean, with additional records from the Australasian, Indo-Pacific and sub-Antarctic regions, reflecting the wide-ranging movements of the tracked and observed species. \n\nComplementary animal‑tracking datasets add individual movement ecology via light‑level geolocators (GLS) and satellite/GPS tags, capturing migration routes, staging areas and foraging ranges (e.g., short‑tailed shearwaters, Arctic terns). Tracking programs delivered under IMOS Animal Tracking and other initiatives contribute deployment metadata, phases (e.g., pre‑laying exodus, incubation), and repeated seasons, enabling cross‑study synthesis of space use across the Southern Ocean and beyond. \n\nAcross sources, records are standardised to Darwin Core with taxonomic alignment to World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS, https://www.marinespecies.org/about.php#what_is_worms), harmonising vessel‑based sightings, historical ship logs and telemetry fixes for robust ecological, biogeographic and conservation analyses. In addition, this product has been normalised with a H3 spatial index applied (resolution 4, ~1,700 km2, as it has a global geographic bounding box), and Australian Marine Region Tags have been added which allows spatial filtering of the data based on known marine regions (for example, commonwealth marine regions)."}
- {"title":"IMOS - National Reef Monitoring Network Sub-Facility - Global benthic cover data (photoquadrat image annotations)","recordAbstract":"The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network Sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey; Parks Australia; IMOS Understanding of Marine Imagery Sub-Facility; Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia); Department for Environment and Water (South Australia); Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (New South Wales); Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service; Parks Victoria and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).\n\nThe data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. \n\nReef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee.\n\nRLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia's marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues.\n\nThe IMOS Understanding of Marine Imagery Sub-Facility provides a national repository for marine imagery and annotations, facilitating the sharing of quantitative data on species and habitat distributions. Squidle+ serves as the foundational software platform for this sub-facility, providing an end-to-end environment for the delivery, management, and annotation of marine imagery. Squidle+ is the primary platform for National Reef Monitoring Network image management.\n\nThis dataset contains data on the habitat composition scored from photoquadrats taken by RLS and ATRC divers and partners along 50m transects on shallow rocky and coral reefs. 20 images are taken along each 50 m transect line at 2.5 m intervals, and images were annotated using a point-overlay approach (usually with 5 points per image overlaid and labelled using standardised schemes of habitat categories). The data are generated using two different methodologies: full-biodiversity (comprehensive labelling of all habitat components) and targeted (labelling of target taxa only, eg. habitat-forming corals). Values are given as percent coverage for each 50 m transect-analysis, as denoted by it's unique dataset_id. \n\nImages, annotation statistics, the RLS standardised label scheme and associated exemplar images, can be viewed online at squidle.org. Image and annotation statistics are also available in the related IMOS collections:\n- IMOS - Understanding of Marine Imagery (UMI) Sub-Facility - Squidle+ Annotation counts by Campaign (https://catalogue-imos.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/5a94a2cf-0810-44ea-a28d-cc8a5c30fbd7) \n- IMOS - Understanding of Marine Imagery (UMI) Sub-Facility - Squidle+ Imagery and Tracks by Deployment (https://catalogue-imos.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/0c9bdfd6-2760-4bde-8230-241132790701)\n\nThis dataset supersedes the RLS specific \"Reef Life Survey (RLS): Habitat Quadrats \" collection that was available at https://catalogue-rls.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?uuid=6e9c4980-1005-11dd-b28e-00188b4c0af8 (provision of data was stopped in June 2021)."}
- {"title":"Australian Seagrass Occurrence - Aggregated data product (1967 - ongoing) (NESP MaC 5.9, IMOS)","recordAbstract":"The Australian Seagrass Aggregated Data Product harmonises disparate seagrass datasets from providers across Australia into a single, standardised resource suitable for ecological assessment, long-term monitoring and habitat modelling. \n\nSeagrass observations across contributing datasets were acquired using a combination of direct field surveys and in water observational methods, selected according to site accessibility, water clarity and survey objectives. Intertidal meadows were commonly mapped using on foot low tide surveys, with observers delineating meadow boundaries and recording species presence using handheld GNSS units. Shallow subtidal and nearshore habitats were assessed through boat based transects, snorkel and photo quadrat surveys, supplemented in some state monitoring programs by underwater video, differential global positioning system (DGPS), bathyscope observations, and side scan sonar to verify habitat boundaries and species occurrence.\n\nRepeat aerial and satellite remote sensing surveys provided comprehensive spatial coverage for regional and long term mapping programs. Many legacy datasets, including NSW estuarine macrophytes and the Cockburn Sound historical time series, were derived from purpose flown aerial photography acquired under optimal water clarity conditions and subsequently digitised or classified into habitat polygons with field based validation. More recent datasets incorporated UAV (drone) orthomosaics to produce centimetre scale mapping of shallow reef flat meadows, alongside high resolution multispectral satellite imagery (WorldView 2, IKONOS and QuickBird 2) and medium resolution PlanetScope imagery to model seagrass distribution, species composition and biomass across broader spatial extents.\n\nSource data were contributed by institutions including the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), James Cook University’s Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Research (TropWATER), state government agencies in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and Tasmania, and research organisations including CSIRO, The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), The University of Western Australia (UWA) and The University of Queensland (UQ). Data was accessed primarily through Seamap Australia’s GeoServer infrastructure and institutional repositories. \n\nThe geographic coverage spans the full extent of Australian coastal waters, with particularly dense data coverage in the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait, Gulf of Carpentaria, Hervey Bay, Moreton Bay, Cockburn Sound, and temperate southern coastlines including Tasmania and Victoria. The product records presence and absence of 13 seagrass species, including Cymodocea rotundata, C. serrulata, Enhalus acoroides, Halophila capricornia, H. decipiens, H. ovalis, H. spinulosa, H. tricostata, Halodule uninervis, Syringodium isoetifolium, Thalassodendron ciliatum, Thalassia hemprichii and Zostera muelleri subsp. capricorni. \n\nSource datasets differ widely in schema, geometry formats, temporal encodings, and species representations. All inputs are validated, normalised, All taxa have been mapped to the Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB, 2024) controlled vocabulary and aligned with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) taxonomy and transformed into a unified long‑format Parquet dataset. Each record is tagged with enhanced metadata, including links to Australian Marine Parks and Commonwealth marine regions, along with a H3 spatial index (resolution 15, ~1m2) to support subsetting and temporal/spatial analysis."}
