Geoscience Australia carried out a marine survey on Carnarvon shelf (WA) in 2008 (SOL4769) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through colocated sampling of surface sediments and infauna, observation of benthic habitats using underwater towed video and stills photography, and measurement of ocean tides and wavegenerated currents. Data and samples were acquired using the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Research Vessel Solander. Bathymetric mapping, sampling and video transects were completed in three survey areas that extended seaward from Ningaloo Reef to the shelf edge, including: Mandu Creek (80 sq km); Point Cloates (281 sq km), and; Gnaraloo (321 sq km). Additional bathymetric mapping (but no sampling or video) was completed between Mandu creek and Point Cloates, covering 277 sq km and north of Mandu Creek, covering 79 sq km. Two oceanographic moorings were deployed in the Point Cloates survey area. The survey also mapped and sampled an area to the northeast of the Muiron Islands covering 52 sq km. cloates_3m is an ArcINFO grid of Point Cloates of Carnarvon Shelf survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software

This service has been created specifically for display in the National Map and the chosen symbology may not suit other mapping applications. The Australian Topographic web map service is seamless national dataset coverage for the whole of Australia. These data are best suited to graphical applications. These data may vary greatly in quality depending on the method of capture and digitising specifications in place at the time of capture. The web map service portrays detailed graphic representation of features that appear on the Earth's surface. These features include the administration boundaries from the Geoscience Australia 250K Topographic Data, including state forest and reserves.

The Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2014 provides both spatial and text information about government, Indigenous and privately protected areas for continental Australia. State and Territory conservation agencies supplied data current to 30 June 2014. The terrestrial component of the database has been previously released in 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 2010 and 2012. This version, provides both spatial and text information about off-shore protected areas in both state and Commonwealth waters. State and Territory conservation agencies supplied data current for 30 June 2014. This is the seventh version of the CAPAD- Marine database, with previous versions published in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2008 2010 and 2012. CAPAD provides a snapshot of protected areas that meet the IUCN definition of a protected area: "A protected area is an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means" (IUCN 1994). The Australian Government Department of the Environment (DOE) publishes a summary of the CAPAD data biennially on its website at http://www.environment.gov.au/capad This version of CAPAD 2014 (marine and terrestial) is a public / downloadable dataset available for use through the CC-BY licencing model.

Legacy product - no abstract available

Australias Maritime Jurisdiction & Security Forces Authority Area Map was created from the AMJ with SAR boundary map (GeoCat Number 74929) located in the Products\Australias Maritime Jurisdiction directory in LOSAMBA drive. Vanessa Corbett requested the change for use in a particular context (Australian Government Piracy Response Plan). Mark Alcock received email from Camille Goodman at AG office to verify the use of the words for this map. The LOSAMBA advice record number is 677

This map has been created for AMSA for MED to include in their submission to the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee, to extend the existing GBR/Torres Strait Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) to the South West Coral Sea. Relates to Advice Register Number 702 Not for public release. AMSA internal use only.

The aim of this study was to apply a seascape modelling approach to explain patterns of genetic patchiness across a complex coral reef system. We focus our analysis on the tabulate coral species Acropora spicifera, which is considered rare throughout the Indo-Pacific and East Indian Ocean, but dominates coral assemblages of the HAI at the southern extent of its range (Veron and Marsh 1988). We coupled population genetic data from a panel of microsatellites DNA markers with a biophysical dispersal model to test whether oceanographic processes could predict patterns of local genetic structure. Our results demonstrate that incorporating an estimate of resistance to connectivity imposed by regional oceanographic currents can predict patterns of genetic divergence and enhance our understanding of processes driving connectivity across complex seascapes.

A revolution is underway in the regulatory intensity of the marine jurisdiction and the technologies by which the jurisdiction is defined, navigated on and policed. This revolution if not properly managed has the capacity to undermine the technical and legal compact by which the most fundamental aspects of UNCLOS are managed - the maritime zones. The ready availability of high resolution coastal imagery and data, collected at high repeat cycles breaks the nexus between cartographic products and the baseline determination where its legal definition is the physical coastline. It is impractical to monitor, compute, distribute and archive the baseline of a highly dynamic coastline. In addition, the increasing establishment of spatially complex marine regulations creates an insatiable demand for more certainty in the determination of maritime zones. For instance, Australia administers over eighty separate regulatory zones through a dozen different agencies. States require a new method of characterising their baselines that is defensible in a precise digital world, and does not impose the costly and burdensome process of mapping a coastline in constant flux. The practical resolution is to adopt a fixed baseline compiled from the best available digital data at an epoch, then periodically updated it when considered appropriate. A fixed baseline is the answer to this problem which will bring with it certainty and repeatability via a method that recognises the costly and complex overhead of coastline characterisation. In this paper I will present a case for the adoption of a fixed baseline; illustrate the expensive impracticality of attempting to represent a fluid coastline to a world demanding certainty; how fixed baselines could form the basis of maritime zones; and finally demonstrate that adopting a fixed baseline is consistent with and desirable to International convention.

ArcGIS shapefile detailing GA's multibeam bathymetry holdings and coverage.

Web Services of the Commonwealth Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 - An Act about petroleum exploration and recovery, and the injection and storage of greenhouse gas substances, in offshore areas, and for other purposes.