Dianne L. Mclean

Dianne L. Mclean
Australian Institute of Marine Science · Sustainable Use of Northwest Marine Ecosystems

PhD Marine Science

About

117
Publications
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Publications

Publications (117)
Article
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This dataset is the output of a long term multi-resolution calibrated hydrodynamic model of Bass Strait waters in south-eastern Australia. The model is 3 dimensional with 16 sigma layers. It is forced by tides, wind, non-tidal sea level variability as well as salinity and temperature through a nudging scheme. The model was calibrated against existi...
Article
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Many shark populations are in decline around the world, with severe ecological and economic consequences. Fisheries management and marine protected areas (MPAs) have both been heralded as solutions. However, the effectiveness of MPAs alone is questionable, particularly for globally threatened sharks and rays (‘elasmobranchs’), with little known abo...
Preprint
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Decommissioning consequences of offshore oil and gas infrastructure removal on marine population dynamics, including connectivity, are not well understood. We modelled the connectivity and metapopulation dynamics of three fish and two benthic invertebrate species inhabiting the natural rocky reefs and offshore oil and gas infrastructure located in...
Article
A global survey of coral reefs reveals that overfishing is driving resident shark species toward extinction, causing diversity deficits in reef elasmobranch (shark and ray) assemblages. Our species level analysis revealed global declines of 60 to 73% for five common resident reef shark species and that individual shark species were not detected at...
Article
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Thousands of oil and gas structures have been installed in the world's oceans over the past 70 years to meet the population's reliance on hydrocarbons. Over the last decade, there has been increased concern over how to handle decommissioning of this infrastructure when it reaches the end of its operational life. Complete or partial removal may or m...
Article
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Introduction Offshore oil and gas (O & G) infrastructure provides hard substrata of structural complexity in marine environments and has been shown to have ecological value, particularly in oligotrophic environments. As infrastructure approaches end of life, understanding such values is critical to inform decommissioning decisions. Methods This st...
Article
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The Gippsland Basin is the location of Australia’s oldest offshore oil and gas (O&G) structures, with hydrocarbon production beginning in the 1960s. The Bass Strait flows over this area with fisheries providing seafood for the major population centers of Melbourne, Sydney and beyond. Since Australia’s maritime legislation restricts activities to ou...
Article
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Regional patterns of fish diversity, abundance, distribution, and assemblage composition are driven by a combination of biotic and abiotic conditions in the marine environment, but these conditions can be altered through anthropogenic activities, such as those associated with oil and gas extraction. The present study utilises data on fish relative...
Article
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Subsea pipelines and wells installed to support the oil and gas industry represent some of the most extensive and numerous anthropogenic structures throughout global marine ecosystems. There remains a paucity of information on the habitat value of these structures for fishery target species and, as a result, little understanding of how decommission...
Book
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This book was developed as a free resource for schools. With 179 colour images, 112 illustrations, and a description of 106 fish species, Perth Fish provides an introduction to unique marine life found off our coast. The Indian Ocean is our backyard playground with many wonders that lie just beneath the surface. With an introduction into the diver...
Article
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Predatory fishes are a major component of many tropical fisheries, although little is known about their diet and trophic structure, which can hinder effective management. We used stable isotopes δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C in conjunction with dietary prey items of five fishes (Lutjanus sebae, Lethrinus punctulatus, Epinephelus areolatus, Epinephelus multinotatus...
Article
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Inherent differences between baited remote video versus diver-operated video survey methodologies may influence their ability to detect effects of fishing. Here, the ability of no-take zones (NTZs) to provide protection for legal-sized fish from targeted species within the Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP) was assessed using both baited remote underwater...
Article
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Context Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are routinely used to inspect oil and gas infrastructure for industry’s operational purposes and scientists utilise this video footage to understand how fish interact with these structures. Aim This study aims to clarify how fish abundance data obtained from ROV video compares to that collected using baite...
Article
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Offshore platforms, subsea pipelines, wells and related fixed structures supporting the oil and gas (O&G) industry are prevalent in oceans across the globe, with many approaching the end of their operational life and requiring decommissioning. Although structures can possess high ecological diversity and productivity, information on how they intera...
Article
Full-text available
Quantifying the drivers of population size in reef sharks is critical for the development of appropriate conservation strategies. In north-west Australia, shark populations inhabit coral reefs that border growing centres of human population, industry, and tourism. However, we lack baseline data on reef sharks at large spatial scales (hundreds of km...
Article
Full-text available
Over 1400 km of oil and gas pipeline infrastructure exists within the boundaries of the Pilbara Trap Managed Fishery (PTMF) operating on the North West Shelf of Australia. Some of this infrastructure has reached the end of its operational life and requires decommissioning. Location and speed data collected from 2008 to 2018 using vessel monitoring...
Preprint
Full-text available
Inherent differences between baited remote video versus diver-operated video survey methodologies may influence their ability to detect effects of fishing. Here the ability of no-take zones (NTZs) to provide protection for legal-sized fish from targeted species within the Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP) was assessed using both baited remote underwater s...
Article
Shark depredation, whereby hooked fish are partially or completely consumed before they can be retrieved, occurs globally in commercial and recreational fisheries. Depredation can damage fishing gear, injure sharks, cause additional mortality to targeted fish species and result in economic losses to fishers. Knowledge of the mechanisms behind depre...
Article
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Subsea infrastructure of the oil and gas industry attracts commercial fish species as well as megafauna including sea lions, turtles, sharks and whales. Potential impacts of this attraction, whether positive or negative, are unknown. As part of a pilot study, we deployed acoustic telemetry equipment around offshore infrastructure to assess its effe...
Article
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Marine fisheries in coastal ecosystems in many areas of the world have historically removed large‐bodied individuals, potentially impairing ecosystem functioning and the long‐term sustainability of fish populations. Reporting on size‐based indicators that link to food‐web structure can contribute to ecosystem‐based management, but the application o...
Preprint
Full-text available
Understanding the ecology of oil and gas infrastructure in our oceans is required to inform decommissioning such that environmental impacts are minimised, and benefits maximised. This study equipped an industrial remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with a stereo-video system and collected seven hours of high-definition imagery of two platform jackets,...
Article
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Marine reserves are a key tool for the conservation of marine biodiversity, yet only ~2.5% of the world's oceans are protected. The integration of marine reserves into connected networks representing all habitats has been encouraged by international agreements, yet the benefits of this design has not been tested empirically. Australia has one of th...
Article
Many marine fish populations have declined due to the individual or cumulative impacts of increasing water temperatures, ocean acidification, overfishing and other human-induced impacts such as land run-off, dredging and habitat alteration. Some solutions may be offered by ecosystem-based fisheries and conservation management. However, understandin...
Article
Baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (BRUVs) are being adopted globally as a sampling method for surveying fish assemblages. The literature demonstrates that researchers are using different deployment times, rarely with justification for the time chosen. We aimed to determine the optimal deployment time of BRUVs to sample reef fish assembl...
Article
The value of subsea pipelines as habitat for fish and benthic species is being considered, particularly by the oil and gas industry as they look to decommission seafloor infrastructure reaching the end of production. We investigated fish and benthic communities along a ca.345 km section of offshore pipeline in remote northern Australia to compare p...
Article
Full-text available
Offshore Oil and Gas (O&G) infrastructure affords structurally complex hard substrata in otherwise featurless areas of the seafloor. Opportunistically collected industrial ROV imagery was used to investigate the colonization of a petroleum platform in the North Sea 1–2 years following installation. Compared to pre-construction communities and pione...
Article
An assessment to remove, partially remove, leave in situ or repurpose oil and gas infrastructure at end of field life can be more robust if it uses rigorous, relevant and accurate data. We used industry remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video, specialised high-definition stereo-video systems and partnered with industry to enhance future ROV campaigns...
Article
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An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Article
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In 2011, the enigma of “mystery circles,” small but complex underwater structures first observed by divers from southern Japan in 1995, was solved when a new species of pufferfish, white‐spotted pufferfish (Torquigener albomaculosus Matsuura 2014), was identified as the responsible agent. To date these circles have been described only from Japan, w...
Article
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Baited remote underwater stereo‐video systems (stereo‐BRUVs) are a popular tool to sample demersal fish assemblages and gather data on their relative abundance and body size structure in a robust, cost‐effective and non‐invasive manner. Given the rapid uptake of the method, subtle differences have emerged in the way stereo‐BRUVs are deployed and ho...
Article
Artificial reefs are frequently installed to provide additional habitat that enhances recreational activities such as diving and fishing. This study assessed changes to habitats, macroinvertebrates and fish after installation of an artificial reef, deployed to influence the marine community and create a more appealing dive trial at Port Coogee, Wes...
Article
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Decades of overexploitation have devastated shark populations, leaving considerable doubt as to their ecological status1,2. Yet much of what is known about sharks has been inferred from catch records in industrial fisheries, whereas far less information is available about sharks that live in coastal habitats³. Here we address this knowledge gap usi...
Article
Baited video systems have been widely used to assess the relative abundance and diversity of sharks in locations around the world, however they provide limited information on behaviour. We developed and pilot tested a novel experimental approach to investigate whether repeated deployments of baited video systems in the same location could generate...
Article
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Understanding the drivers of exploited fish abundance distributions is key to successful natural resource management, but it is costly to obtain this information at large spatio-temporal scales relevant to management. We used small programmable automated cameras (POTBots) deployed in commercial rock lobster fisher’s pots, during normal fishing acti...
Article
In recent years, video footage obtained from routine industry surveys using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) has been used to assess fish assemblages associated with offshore oil and gas infrastructure. However, as industry moves towards using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), it is important to understand how such a change may affect assessm...
Article
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In oceans and seas worldwide, an increasing number of end-of-life anthropogenic offshore structures (e.g., platforms, pipelines, manifolds, windfarms, etc.) are facing full or partial removal. As part of the decommissioning process, studies on potential importance of subsea infrastructure to marine megafauna (defined as: cetaceans, pinnipeds, siren...
Article
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Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are used extensively by the offshore oil and gas and renewables industries for inspection, maintenance, and repair of their infrastructure. With thousands of subsea structures monitored across the world’s oceans from the shallows to depths greater than 1,000 m, there is a great and underutilized opportunity for the...
Article
The offshore hydrocarbon basins of the world and their neighbouring countries are faced with an immense decommissioning challenge. Uncertainties in regulation and costs, coupled with limited environmental data, stifle consideration and support for alternative options to full removal. In separate regions, scientists and industry are forming partners...
Article
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Artificial illumination is required when sampling with baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS) in the lower mesophotic zone beyond ~ 90 m depth, yet little is known of how the choice of lighting influences fish assemblages and affects survey results in this zone. Here we use BRUVS equipped with the commonly used GoPro action camera to compar...
Article
Subsea pipelines have been installed in all major hydrocarbon basins across the globe to support the offshore Oil & Gas (O&G) industry. These artificial structures provide hard substratum that can be colonised and utilised by sessile and mobile organisms. The present study utilises industry-collected remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video to assess...
Article
Full-text available
The deep ocean below 200 m water depth is the least observed, but largest habitat on our planet by volume and area. Over 150 years of exploration has revealed that this dynamic system provides critical climate regulation, houses a wealth of energy, mineral, and biological resources, and represents a vast repository of biological diversity. A long h...
Article
Shark depredation, whereby a shark consumes an animal caught by fishing gear, can cause higher mortality for target species, injury to sharks and the loss of catch and fishing gear. A critical first step towards potential mitigation is understanding this behaviour and the shark species involved, because the identity of depredating shark species is...
Article
There has been rapid uptake of stereo‐video‐based sampling techniques to collect species, abundance and body‐size information on fish assemblages and their associated habitats. Stereo‐video methods provide highly accurate estimates of body‐size, range and sampling area as well as a permanent record that can be cross‐checked or resampled for additio...
Article
Scientists, industry and regulators are seeking to understand the influence of oil and gas infrastructure in our oceans to mitigate its impacts and maximise environmental benefits. This project equipped a standard work-class ROV with a light-weight stereo-video camera system to collect high definition imagery of fish and habitats formed by marine g...
Article
Full-text available
Endemic to the Indo West-Pacific region, zebra sharks (Stegostoma fasciatum) are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered species list. Despite this, little is known about the reproduction behaviour or where individuals copulate. In October 2015, two zebra sharks - one male and one female - were observed on a baited remote u...
Article
Full-text available
Shark depredation, where a shark partially or completely consumes an animal caught by fishing gear before it can be retrieved to the fishing vessel, occurs in commercial and recreational fisheries worldwide, causing a range of negative biological and economic impacts. Despite this, it remains relatively understudied compared to other fisheries issu...
Article
Full-text available
Knowledge of marine ecosystems that grow and reside on and around subsea oil and gas infrastructure is required to understand impacts of this offshore industry on the marine environment and inform decommissioning decisions. This study used baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs) to compare species richness, fish abundance and s...
Data
The abundance and commonality (% deployments) of all bony fish species (alphabetical by order then family and then genus) observed on the Griffin pipeline deployments and those in the surrounding natural environment (off pipeline). Species that appear as near threatened on the IUCN Red List are identified with NT. Species listed as “sp10” were not...
Data
Results of PERMANOVA analyses on the fish assemblage relative abundance and biomass (multivariate analyses; fourth-root transformed data, Bray Curtis dissimilarities) and on the total abundance and biomass of commercial species (univariate analyses; fourth-root transformed, Euclidean Distance dissimiliarities). The results of subsequent depth range...
Data
Best generalised additive models (GAMs) for predicting total abundance, species richness, and the abundance of key species identified in Fig 2. Key species are divided into <40m 40-80m and >80 m depth categories depending on the direction of the vectors in the CAP. eDF, estimated degrees of freedom; AIC, Akaike Information Criterion; wAIC, Weighted...
Data
Summary of the commercial catches and the relative contribution (% composition) of each of the major or iconic species taken within the Pilbara and Kimberley sectors of the North Coast Bioregion in 2015 (Fletcher et al. 2017). (DOCX)
Data
Spatial distribution of the relative abundance of key species. MaxN bubble sizes reflect exact abundance, and therefore bubble size may be larger or smaller than those in the legend’s categories. (TIF)
Data
Smooth spline fits (GAMs) of the predicted abundance of key species; C. caeruleopinnatus, and Nemipterus spp. (40–80 m) and A. spinifer, Decapterus sp1 and P. multidens (>80 m). Colour ramp represents the abundance predicted by latitude and longitude alone. Heatmaps of other common and interesting species are presented in Appendix 4. (TIFF)
Data
Spatial distribution of the relative abundance of commercial species found throughout the study area, including G. grandoculis, Scopmberomberous spp, E. multinotatus, Plectropomus spp, and A. spinifer. MaxN bubble sizes reflect actual abundance, and therefore bubble size may be larger or smaller than those in the legend. (TIFF)
Data
The abundance and commonality (% deployments) of all cartilaginous fish species (alphabetical by order then family and then genus) observed on the Griffin pipeline and those in the surrounding natural environment (off pipeline). Species that appear as critically endangered (CE), endangered (EN), vulnerable (VU), or near threatened (NT) on the IUCN...
Data
Total fish abundance, species richness, and the abundance of key species relative to the most parsimonious explanatory variables (Table 4). The solid black line represents the estimated smoothing curve and dashed lines represents ±2 x SE of the estimate. (TIF)
Data
Spatial distribution of the relative abundance of commercial species found throughout the study area, including L. sebae, L. malabaricus, L erythropterus, L. vitta, L. russellii, P. multidens, L. nebulosus, L. punctulatus and L laticaudis. MaxN bubble sizes reflect actual abundance, and therefore bubble size may be larger or smaller than those in t...
Article
Nocturnal studies of fish assemblages are relatively rare, particularly at depths greater than 100 m, despite the relevance of diel shifts in habitat usage to fisheries management. This study assesses fish diversity and abundance from remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video recordings that were collected by industry during the day and at night in the...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding environmental drivers of fish assemblage composition is fundamental to designing useful management plans for anthropogenic activities. This study investigated the influence of suspended sediment on reef fish assemblages and habitat composition over a cross-shelf turbidity gradient in the nearshore Pilbara region of Western Australia....
Article
Information on the potential ecological value of offshore oil and gas infrastructure is required as it reaches the end of its operational life and decisions must be made regarding the best practice option for decommissioning. This study uses baited remote underwater stereo-video systems to assess fish assemblages along an offshore subsea pipeline a...
Research
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Ecologically sustainable coastal infrastructure such as living harbours and fish friendly marinas are receiving global focus from stakeholders. Purpose built artificial reefs can be deployed into marina’s and harbours to create habitat and stimulate increases in the number and types of fish in the local area. This study assessed changes to habitats...
Article
When production ceases, offshore oil and gas wells are taken out of service which involves safely plugging, abandoning and usually removing most of the associated subsea equipment. This process must consider impacts to marine ecosystems to meet regulatory requirement and for best environmental practice. However, there is a paucity of information gl...
Article
Full-text available
Accelerating coastal development and shipping activities dictate that dredging operations will intensify, increasing potential impacts to fishes. Coastal fishes have high economic, ecological, and conservation significance and there is a need for evidence‐based, quantitative guidelines on how to mitigate the impacts of dredging activities. We asses...