The NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub, a forerunner of the Marine and Coastal Hub, developed and progressed the adoption of nine national standards for marine survey design and sampling.

These standards allow the comparison of marine data collected over time and across areas and sectors. They are critical to the effective assessment and management of Australia’s marine estate and have been adopted at state, Commonwealth, and international levels: thereby becoming true best practices. Despite their importance, the existing standards represent a fraction of those required to meet national needs, and with no long-term governance arrangement in place, they run the risk of becoming outdated.

This project advanced the establishment and use of national standards and best practices to monitor the condition status of priority values and pressures of Australia’s marine estate. It updated existing national standards and developed new standards and manuals – for drop cameras, socioeconomic surveys of marine users, and marine microplastics – according to an internationally recognised process for developing best practices.

Approach and findings

This project’s main achievement was the release of Version 3 of the Field Manuals for Marine Sampling to Monitor Australian Waters. Version 3 includes three new best-practice manuals: 

  • The microplastics best-practice field manual focuses on the identification and quantification of microplastics (1 μm – 5 mm) from water, sediment, biota, and air samples from marine and coastal environments. Ultimately, it aims to ensure microplastic sampling can occur accurately and comparably between NGOs, consultants, research and government institutions.
  • The knowledge, attitudes, practice (KAP) survey best-practice field manual presents an approach for conducting face-to-face marine protected area knowledge, attitude and practice surveys with marine recreational users (fishing and non-fishing) at boat ramps and coastal access points. This data is explicitly designed to inform management reviews and provide essential pressure data to complement biodiversity surveys.
  • The benthic observation survey system (BOSS) best-practice field manual demonstrates how a novel four-camera drop platform, with a wide combined field of view (~270o), can be used to collect benthic imagery that can be annotated for spatial modelling, predictive modelling, and ground truthing of robust habitat maps.

The new field manuals were supported by a workshop, revisions to older field manuals, website updates, and a framework for ocean best practices development. In addition, Indigenous partners shared their knowledge for the KAP and BOSS manuals, thus laying the groundwork for future Indigenous partnerships and Indigenous-led projects using the best-practice field manuals.

The impact of the field manuals since their release in 2018 has been substantial, with strong uptake across diverse sectors including applied science, offshore industry, and academic research. Their widespread endorsement and utilisation ranges from national agencies such as Parks Australia to international bodies such as the Global Ocean Observing System, and they have contributed to improved marine monitoring nationally and globally. Additionally, the framework developed for ocean best practices is anticipated to see wide adoption beyond Australia following its publication and endorsement by the Ocean Best Practices System.

Tackling barriers to adoption

Despite widespread adoption, barriers to the uptake of the field manuals persist, including issues related to funding, awareness, training, content, and institutional support. These highlight the need for targeted efforts to enhance understanding and implementation, particularly among state and territory marine park agencies and private consultancies. This project final report provides a list of recommendations, including:

  • nominating all field manuals for international endorsement;
  • establishing governance mechanisms for ongoing oversight;
  • securing funding for field manual development and infrastructure; and
  • identifying future SOP development priorities to address emerging needs such as offshore renewable energy monitoring.

These efforts will ensure the transparency, effectiveness, and long-term sustainability of marine sampling best practices in Australia and beyond.

 

The three phases and associated steps required to develop an ocean best practice. Each step is linked to icons showing the relevant part of the Ocean Best Practices System that provide support. This process is described in a paper by project leader Rachel Przeslawski and her colleagues in Frontiers of Marine Science. ‘Developing an ocean best practice: A case study of marine sampling practices from Australia’, describes a three-phase process required to achieve best practice: 1) scope and recruit, 2) develop and release, 3) revise and ratify. Each phase includes two to three steps and associated actions supported by the Ocean Best Practices System. While this process requires planning and effort, it optimises the chance to develop a true best practice and has many other benefits.

Outcomes

This project:

  • contributed to an improved information flow from survey through to management decision for the task of assessing condition status of key natural values and pressures;
  • facilitated stronger and more general inferences about ecological processes, based on consistent sampling methodology;
  • aided the cost-effective sampling of Australia’s marine environment, even when sampling is performed by different institutions at different times; and
  • provided a reference point for regulatory and management agencies responsible for monitoring the trend and status of communities and individual species.

Project location

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