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    This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub study - Project 3.11 - Multi- fishery collaboration to assess population abundances and post release survival of threatened sawfish in northern Australia. For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. To improve sawfish reporting and obtain an estimate of sawfish abundance and stock structure, a large-scale collaborative project is proposed between industry, State and Commonwealth agencies and lead research institutions to gather tissue samples from across northern Australia. The project will have a focus on developing trust between research and the commercial fishing industry that will achieve the following: - Industry led reporting and sampling programs will be established throughout Australia’s northern fisheries. - Tissue samples will be used to assess sawfish abundance and stock structure using Close-Kin Mark-Recapture (CKMR). - Estimates of post-release survival will be obtained from satellite tagging and improved reporting. - Data on abundance and post release survival will be used to assess the sustainability of sawfish bycatch. The research also aims to improve reporting of sawfish along with other EPBC listed species in northern Australian fisheries. If enough tissue samples are collected, close kin mark recapture will enable estimates of adult population size for four species of sawfish. Post release survival and abundance estimates will be used to determine the sustainability of sawfish captured as bycatch in state, territory and Commonwealth Fisheries. Improved estimates of bycatch, population connectivity, adult abundance and post release survival were identified as the highest research priorities in the Sawfish and River Shark multispecies recovery plan. Within Australia, three out of the four occurring species are listed as Vulnerable and Migratory under the EPBC act (Pristis pristis, P. zijsron and P. clavata). The fourth Australian species, narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata) is listed as a Migratory species. Both A. cuspidata and P. pristis are currently under nomination to be up-listed to Endangered under the EPBC act. The Freshwater Sawfish Pristis pristis is also listed in the Threatened Species Strategy - 100 priority species for fish. Planned Outputs • Sawfish catch data [spatial dataset] • Tissue samples and sequencing data • Final technical report with analysed data and a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]

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    This dataset presents the raw data obtained from 1415 online and representative Australian that were asked to aesthetically rate 180 photos of typical coral reef landscapes. Mean aesthetic ratings of 180 photos were collected from the survey, as well as from an expert research team, contributing mean ratings of coral reef health, coral cover, coral pattern, coral topography, fish abundance, and visibility. Please note that CSIRO have published a version of this dataset on 29 May 2019, which should be considered the primary source of data information (i.e. citation for data files found on the CSIRO Portal). The published eAtlas version includes files supplied by the project to the eAtlas for publication. The eAtlas version differs in format (RatingsAesthetics.csv - includes the photo mean score) and includes a second spreadsheet containing information not available in the CSIRO version (Ratings-All.csv) which captures each photo's ratings against five factors (coral health, coral cover, coral topography, fish abundance and visibility), as outlined in point two below. The CSIRO version contains the SPSS data extract and codebook (xlsx file), as well as the photo ratings summary (PhotoRatingsInd.xlsx) without the calculated mean. Methods: 1. A survey was constructed to collect simple demographic information about each participant, the self-rated level of interest in coral reefs, and aesthetic ratings for each photo on a scale of 1-10 (where 1=extremely unattractive, and 10=extremely attractive). Once an individual agreed to partake in the survey, they were sent a survey with 50 photographs randomly chosen from the pool of 181 photographs. It was noted that the quality of responses could be affected if more than 50 photos were viewed (where 50 photos represented a ten-minute survey). The style of the survey was not dissimilar from very popular online games in which individuals are asked to rank aesthetic preferences of fashion or interior design items. A full list of the images used in the survey is available in Appendix 1 (1-90) A total of 1,417 individuals participated in the study, where each photo was rated at least 380 times on the ten-point scale. Twenty-nine percent of the sample came from Queensland, and 71% were distributed across Australia. Some 62.3% of people came from Metropolitan Australia, whilst 37.7 came from rural/regional Australia. Some 51.4% were female. Participants represented a range of experiences with the Great Barrier Reef, where 7.2% had never visited, and 7.9% did not find coral reefs that interesting. Most participants (99.6%) were not part of a GBR based club or community groups, such as a spear-fishing club. The average age for the sample population was 46.96 (standard error=0.471), and ranged from 16 to 89. 2. We identified 180 underwater coral reef photographs from those that were publicly available (www.gbrmpa.gov.au) or existed in the combined image libraries of the study authors. They represented typical underwater images from the GBR, with a common oblique perspective taken from approximately 5-10 m above a coral substrate. This perspective characterised the image that a person would see as soon as they placed their head beneath the water, and it was similar to the visual perspective used in monitoring surveys conducted by manta-towing at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Some photos were duplicated and placed randomly, and some were modified using photo editing software to manipulate one feature independent of others, for the purposes of ‘checking’ the consistency and subtleties associated with making aesthetic judgements. Each photo was rated for each of the five factors (on a scale of low, medium, high) by members of the research team with experience in coral reefs; coral health, coral cover, coral topography, fish abundance, and visibility. Given that there were insufficient photos representing abundant fish and poor visibility, a total of 20 photos were manipulated to enhance or de-emphasise certain factors. These photos ensured that we could attribute differences in aesthetic appeal of each photo to at least one of the five factors. The final set of photos represented realistic coral reef images across all five factors, with a greater representation of images containing moderately high coral cover to capture the nuances across the scale of potential ratings and also to aide engagement during online rating sessions Format: This dataset consists of two CSV files and two PDF files. The two CSV files contain the data on aesthetic ratings from an online survey, and ratings on reef health and abundance. eAtlas Note: The original files were provided as Excel spreadsheet tables and were converted to CSV files. Photographs and analysis were originally supplied as word document files and have been converted to PDF files. References: Marshall, N.A., Marshall, P.A., and Smith, A.K. (2017) Managing for Aesthetic Values in the Great Barrier Reef: Identifying indicators and linking Reef Aesthetics with Reef Health. Report to the National Environmental Science Programme. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (102 pp.). Data Location: This dataset is filed in the eAtlas enduring data repository at: eAtlas/nesp3/3.2.4_Defining-assessing-GBR-aesthetics

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    This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub small-scale study "A roadmap for coordinated landscape-scale coastal and marine ecosystem restoration". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. This project aims to develop a roadmap to guide research and investment into landscape-scale coastal and marine restoration. The project brings together interdisciplinary expertise in coastal engineering, decision theory, marine ecology, modelling and ecosystem services to examine decision support needs and opportunities to restore coastal marine ecosystems at scale. The research will focus on the ecosystem services of coastal protection and climate resilience with the recognition that this Nature-based Solution (NbS) approach provides co-benefits such as biodiversity, fisheries production, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling. The research will be accomplished through surveys and workshops/meetings with input from key end user groups in industry, NGO, Indigenous and Governmental organisations Planned Outputs • Final technical report with analysed data and a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]

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    This dataset consists of one data file (CSV) from a nationally open survey for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples involved or interested in ecosystem restoration of marine and coastal habitats. The survey elicited 8 responses, although not all were complete, and gathered perceptions of engagement in restoration by researchers and practitioners. The aim of this survey was to supplement a literature review that was conducted as part of a wider research project to understand challenges, barriers, and suggestions to develop a framework for the restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems. The project objective related to this data was to conduct a targeted approach to Indigenous Engagement to understand the experiences and needs of Traditional Owners. The survey was one of three components that fed into the NESP MAC Project 1.6 A roadmap to coordinated landscape-scale coastal and marine restoration with the three components being 1) National Survey; 2) Project workshops and 3) Indigenous engagement. Methods: An online survey was designed to elicit understanding of the challenges and barriers faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities and organisations in relation to coastal and marine ecosystem restoration. The survey questions were designed by the project core team. The survey design and methods were approved by the CSIRO Social and Interdisciplinary Science Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 139/21). The survey was distributed on 27th January 2022 and closed on 6th February 2022, with a reminder email sent on 4th February. Individuals who had previously been contacted by our research team and had shown interest in participating in these activities were contacted. The total number of responses recorded for the survey were eight (8), with three (3) responses only completing 25% of the survey. The responses were downloaded from Qualtrics as CSV files and analysed for contribution into the report Saunders et al. 2022 Limitations of the Dataset: The short project timeframe limited the opportunity for appropriate engagement; this was unfortunately exacerbated by unexpected medical leave from within the team. Therefore, our ability to appropriately engage in a larger undertaking of challenges and barriers for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples working or interested in restoration was limited. However, we were able to understand numerous barriers, gaps, and challenges in relation to appropriate recognition and inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and science in restoration. The survey had an extremely small response rate, with only a total of 8 respondents, of which 3 were incomplete. The responses came from individuals in three states. The survey did not identify between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples so we cannot be sure which community voices have been captured. References: Megan I. Saunders, Nathan J. Waltham, Toni Cannard, Marian Sheppard, Mibu Fischer, Alice Twomey, Melanie Bishop, Kris Boody, David Callaghan, Beth Fulton, Catherine Lovelock, Mariana Mayer Pinto, Ian M. McLeod, Taryn McPherson, Rebecca Morris, Andrew Pomeroy, Mike Ronan, Andy Steven, Stephen Swearer (2022) A roadmap for coordinated landscape-scale coastal and marine ecosystem restoration. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns. Data Location: This dataset is filed in the eAtlas enduring data repository at: data\custodian\2021-2022-NESP-MaC-1\1.6_Coastal-marine-restoration-roadmap