Franziska Althaus

CSIRO Ocean and Atmosphere

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are typically fragile and slow to recover, thereby making them susceptible to disturbance, including fishing. In the high seas, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) requested regional fishery management organisations (RFMOs) to implement measures to prevent significant adverse impacts on VMEs. Here, we pred...

Management of deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations/Arrangements (RFMO/As) requires identification of areas with Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Currently, fisheries data, including trawl and longline bycatch data, are used by many RFMO/As to inform the identification of VMEs. H...

As oil and gas infrastructure comes to the end of its working life, a decommissioning decision must be made: should the infrastructure be abandoned in situ, repurposed, partially removed, or fully removed? Environmental contaminants around oil and gas infrastructure could influence these decisions because contaminants in sediments could degrade the...

Egg case nurseries of the boreal skate (Amblyraja hyperborea) and Richardson's skate (Bathyraja richardsoni) were defined and mapped on a bathyal seascape (c. 500–1900 m depths) south of Tasmania, Australia, using 99 towed‐camera transects (157 linear km; N = 50,858 images). In total, 738 skate egg cases were observed (present in 240 images, absent...

Protecting deep‐sea coral‐based vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) from human impacts, particularly bottom trawling, is a major conservation challenge in world oceans. Management processes for these ecosystems are weakened by key uncertainties that could be substantially addressed by having much greater volumes of quantitative image‐derived data t...

An increased reliance on imagery as the source of biodiversity data from the deep sea has stimulated many recent advances in image annotation and data management. The form of image-derived data is determined by the way faunal units are classified and should align with the needs of the ecological study to which it is applied. Some applications may r...

Multiple lines of evidence substantiate the existence of a very large aggregation of the basketwork eel, Diastobranchus capensis, on the small (3 km2) Patience Seamount off southeast Australia. The aggregation appears to be present year-round, but largest in the austral autumn when composed of spawning eels. Twenty eels caught in April 2015 (14 fem...

One of the most remarkable groups of deep-sea squids is the Magnapinnidae, known for their large fins and strikingly long arm and tentacle filaments. Little is known of their biology and ecology as most specimens are damaged and juvenile, and in-situ sightings are sparse, numbering around a dozen globally. As part of a recent large-scale research p...

Environmental harm to deep-sea coral reefs on seamounts is widely attributed to bottom trawl fishing. Yet, accurate diagnoses of impacts truly caused by trawling are surprisingly rare. Similarly, comprehensive regional assessments of fishing damage rarely exist, impeding evaluations of, and improvements to, conservation measures. Here we report on...

Protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME) is a critical goal for marine conservation. Yet, in many deep-sea settings, where quantitative data are typically sparse, it is challenging to correctly identify the location and size of VMEs. Here we assess the sensitivity of a method to identify coral reef VMEs based on bottom cover and abundance o...

Under UNGA resolution 61/105, management of fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction requires identification of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). Criteria to designate a VME include uniqueness, functional significance, fragility, structural complexity, and certain life history traits. Currently the only quantitative way to assess VME loca...

Aim Mining and petroleum industries are exploring for resources in deep seafloor environments. Lease areas are often spatially aggregated and continuous over hundreds to thousands of kilometres. Sustainable development of these resources requires an understanding of the patterns of biodiversity at similar scales, yet these data are rarely available...

Aim To document biogeographic patterns in the deepwater benthic epifauna and demersal fishes of southern Australia, and determine whether museum records and systematic survey data provide matching results. Location Southern Australian (32–44oS) continental slope (200–3,000 m deep). Taxon Marine benthic fauna (Arthropoda, Bryozoa, Cnidaria, Echino...

Background: The Great Australian Bight (GAB) comprises the majority of Australia’s southern coastline, but to date its deep water fauna has remained almost unknown. Recent issuing of oil and gas leases in the region has highlighted this lack of baseline biological data and established a pressing need to characterise benthic abyssal fauna. Methods:...

Significance We conducted a systematic, high-resolution analysis of bottom trawl fishing footprints for 24 regions on continental shelves and slopes of five continents and New Zealand. The proportion of seabed trawled varied >200-fold among regions (from 0.4 to 80.7% of area to a depth of 1,000 m). Within 18 regions, more than two-thirds of seabed...

The number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has increased globally as concerns over the impact that human activities are having on the world’s oceans have also increased. Monitoring is a key requirement to determine if MPAs are meeting their objectives. However, many recently declared MPA’s are large, offshore, or form part of an expansive network...

The Great Australian Bight (GAB) is important ecologically due to a diverse benthic fauna with high endemicity, and productivity that supports marine mammals and apex predators. The region is also economically important, supporting valuable fisheries, aquaculture and ecotourism industries. Deep-sea (>200 m depth) exploration leases for oil and gas...

The deepest systematic collection of benthic fishes in Australian waters (108 species from 48 families in 200–3000 m depths) was taken by beam trawl during two surveys in the central Great Australian Bight (GAB) in 2015. All samples were on sediment habitats, but some were in close proximity to volcanic seamounts and outcropping rocky seabed in sub...

Benthic sleds (also called sledges) and bottom trawls both use nets to collect organisms while they are towed across the seafloor. There is no one type of sled or trawl suitable for all habitats and depths, and selection of the most suitable type depends on scientific objectives, previous knowledge, targeted fauna, environment, depth, and vessel ca...

Australia has one of the world’s largest marine estates that includes many vulnerable habitats and a high biodiversity, with many endemic species crossing a wide latitudinal range. The marine estate is used by a variety of industries including fishing, oil & gas, and shipping, in addition to traditional, cultural, scientific and recreational uses....

Patterns of habitat use by animals and knowledge of the environmental factors affecting these spatial patterns are important for understanding the structure and dynamics of ecological communities. Both aspects are poorly known for deep-sea habitats. The present study investigates echinoid distributions within cold water coral (CWC) habitats on cont...

The report provides an updated description of reef-affiliated seabed biota in many of the Australian Marine Parks (AMPs) within the Temperate east, South-east and South-west marine planning regions. The report also presents the mapping coverage of all AMPs by Lucieer et al. (2016).

Full text available at: www.misa.net.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/308800/Secured_GABRP_Research_Report_Series_No_32_Sponge_Report_13122017.pdf

The seascape of the vast Australian continental margin is characterised by numerous submarine canyons that represent an equally broad range of geomorphic and oceanographic heterogeneity. Theoretically, this heterogeneity translates into habitats that may vary widely in their ecological characteristics. Here we describe the methodology to develop a...

The Great Australian Bight (GAB) represents one of Australia’s most prospective frontier hydrocarbon exploration regions. Its largest subregion – the Ceduna sub-basin – is a deep (slope to abyss) area of 126 300 km² with a 15-km deep sedimentary sequence that remains effectively untested. Knowledge of the Ceduna sub-basin’s geology is rapidly evolv...

https://www.crcpress.com/Oceanography-and-Marine-Biology-An-Annual-Review-Volume-54/Hughes-Hughes-Smith-Dale/p/book/9781498747981

Executive Summary What the project achieved The first spatial mapping of Blue-eye Trevalla stocks in Australian waters was completed between 2013 and 2016 using a variety of techniques, novel approaches, leading edge technology, a synthesis of historical data, and input from knowledgeable commercial fishers. Each of our three primary analyses pr...

Aim To evaluate the conservation performance of Australia's continental‐scale network of marine reserves for deep‐water octocorals using three criteria: (1) Representation : what fraction of the sampled deep‐water octocoral fauna within Australia's marine jurisdiction is contained in reserves?; (2) Species turnover : to what degree do reserves shar...

Imagery collected by still and video cameras is an increasingly important tool for minimal impact, repeatable observations in the marine environment. Data generated from imagery includes identification, annotation and quantification of biological subjects and environmental features within an image. To be long-lived and useful beyond their project-s...

Deep-sea fisheries operate globally throughout the world's oceans, chiefly targeting stocks on the upper and mid-continental slope and offshore seamounts. Major commercial fisheries occur, or have occurred, for species such as orange roughy, oreos, cardinalfish, grenadiers and alfonsino. Few deep fisheries have, however, been sustainable, with most...

Because benthic ecosystems of seamounts support vulnerable biota that are increasingly threatened by mining and fishing, assessments of ecological conditions and impacts are important to balance resource extraction with biological conservation. These assessments rely on ecological metrics generated from physical collections of fauna with sleds or s...

Understanding the effect of anthropogenic pressure on animal assemblages over time is a challenging problem that integrates human activities and community ecology. Our ability to make informed decisions for managing pressures depends on estimating their ecological effects, and a rigorous and objective approach should be used. There are three requir...

The number of deep-water (>80 m) octocoral species recorded from Australian waters has more than tripled from 135 to 457 following six surveys undertaken between 1997 and 2008 on the deep continental margin of south-eastern, western and north-western Australia and the Tasman Sea. This rapid increase in knowledge follows a slow accumulation of recor...

Assemblages of megabenthos are structured in seven depth-related zones between ∼700 and 4000 m on the rocky and topographically complex continental margin south of Tasmania, southeastern Australia. These patterns emerge from analysis of imagery and specimen collections taken from a suite of surveys using photographic and in situ sampling by epibent...

CAAMI Visual guide - This report is a guide with images describing the classes included in the CATAMI Classification of (mostly benthic) marine biota and substrates. The concept is described in Althaus et al. 2015 PLoS ONE 10(10): e0141039. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141039

The use of environmental data in biogeographic studies of the deep sea is providing greater insight into the processes underlying large-scale patterns of diversity. Recent surveys of Australia's western continental margin (~100–1100 m) provide systematic sampling of invertebrate megafauna along a gradient of 22° of latitude (13–35° S). Diversity pa...

Australia's western continental margin extends over∼2,000 km, from subtropical to temperate latitudes (∼18-35. oS). The regional oceanography overlying the deep continental shelf and slope area (∼100-1,000 m depths) is profoundly influenced by the southward-flowing Leeuwin current (LC) to depths of ∼300 m, and by a northward-flowing counter-current...

Understanding patterns of biodiversity in deep sea systems is increasingly important because human activities are extending further into these areas. However, obtaining data is difficult, limiting the ability of science to inform management decisions. We have used three different methods of quantifying biodiversity to describe patterns of biodivers...

Biplots of all 15 covariates considered for inclusion in predictive models. Each cell shows the relationship between two covariates, listed on the diagonal. (PNG)

This first assessment of sponges on Australia’s deep western continental margin (100–1,100 m) found that highly species-rich sponge assemblages dominate the megabenthic invertebrate biomass in both southwestern (86%) and northwestern (35%) areas. The demosponge orders Poecilosclerida, Dictyoceratida, Haplosclerida, and Astrophorida are dominant, wh...

This book started as an idea at the GeoHab meeting held in Noumea, New Caledonia, in May 2007. We noticed that multibeam bathymetry maps of geomorphic features, sometimes shown as 3D fly-thru movies, followed by detailed sampling and photographic data (including underwater videos) illustrating the substrate conditions and associated biota was a con...

Aim Identification of biodiversity hotspots has typically relied on species richness. We extend this approach to include prediction to regional scales of other attributes of biodiversity based on the prediction of Rank Abundance Distributions (RADs). This allows us to identify areas that have high numbers of rare species and areas that have a rare...

We describe a previously unknown assemblage of seamount-associated megabenthos that has by far the highest peak biomass reported in the deep-sea outside of vent communities. The assemblage was found at depths of 2–2.5 km on rocky geomorphic features off the southeast coast of Australia, in an area near the Sub-Antarctic Zone characterised by high r...

Fishes were collected from seamounts and insular slopes of the northern Tasman and southern Coral Seas in the environs of the Reinga Ridge, Norfolk Ridge and Lord Howe Rise, at depths ranging from 49 to 1927 m. A total of 348 demersal fish species in 99 families, which were collected from 135 samples taken with a variety of sampling gear, greatly i...

The deep-sea biodiversity of the Lord Howe Rise and Norfolk Ridge – two complex submarine features that extend in a north-south direction either side of a deep basin within the northern Tasman Sea and southern Coral Sea – was sampled in 2003 for the first time on a broad regional scale. The total of 1313 megabenthic invertebrate species from 17 hig...

The two principal aims of this study were to synthesise physical and biological information to characterise the Lord Howe Rise (LHR) region and to use recent survey collections of benthic invertebrates (mostly large benthic epifauna) to describe its biogeography at regional and sub-regional scales. The LHR region is large (1.95millionkm2), spans tr...

Deep-sea fishes have been poorly sampled globally, and overall knowledge of demersal fish distributions and the drivers of community composition and diversity remain limited. Here, we used nine comparable datasets with species-level identification of fishes from research surveys around the world to test the hypothesis that deep-sea demersal fish as...

Seamounts have often been viewed as specialized habitats that support unique communities; this notion has given rise to several hypotheses about how seamount ecosystems are structured. One, the ‘seamount oasis hypothesis’, predicts that invertebrates are more abundant, speciose and attain higher standing stocks on seamounts compared to other deep-s...

Because the nature, tempo and trajectories of biological changes that follow the cessation of trawling are unknown for seamounts, it is unclear whether closing them to trawling will lead to a recovery of the fauna and, if so, over what time scales. This paper reports on a ‘test of recovery’ from repeated towed camera surveys on three seamounts off...

Submarine canyons increase seascape diversity on continental margins and harbour diverse and abundant biota vulnerable to fishing. Because many canyons are fished, there is an increasing emphasis on including them in conservation areas on continental margins. Here we report on sponge diversity and bottom cover in three canyons of South-eastern Aust...

The first large systematic collection of benthic invertebrate megafauna from the Australian continental margin (depths > 100 m) revealed high species richness and novelty on the south-western continental slope (∼100–1100 m depth; ∼18° S–35° S). A total of 1979 morphologically defined species was discriminated in seven taxa across all samples: Demos...

Complex biogenic habitats formed by corals are important components of the megabenthos of seamounts, but their fragility makes them susceptible to damage by bottom trawling. Here we examine changes to stony corals and associated megabenthic assemblages on seamounts off Tasmania (Australia) with different histories of bottom-contact trawling by anal...

We present a statistical framework for analysing video transect data from the marine environment. Variables observed in the video data, especially those describing marine fauna, are related to physical variables derived from coarser scale acoustic data that has much greater spatial coverage. The observations from the video data are multivariate, an...

The shelf-edge is the region of the seafloor where the flat continental shelf drops away rapidly to form the continental slope – the steep edge of the continental margin that continues to the abyssal plains. The depth of the shelf edge is roughly between 150 and 400m. It’s an important area for fisheries and is targeted by trawl and trap fisheries...

Williams, A., Bax, N. J., Kloser, R. J., Althaus, F., Barker, B., and Keith G. 2009. Australia’s deep-water reserve network: implications of false homogeneity for classifying abiotic surrogates of biodiversity. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 214–224. Australia’s southeast network of deep-water marine reserves, declared in July 2007, was desi...

Submarine canyons are spectacular topographical features that intersect the continental margins of the world’s oceans. Canyons comprise unique habitats in terms of complexity, instability, material processing, and hydrodynamics, and they may support diverse assemblages of larger epibenthos. Yet, quantitative data on the biodiversity of the megabent...

Summary Key findings 1. A survey in 2004 provided the first data on benthic habitats and fauna for the continental shelf and slope area of the proposed Zeehan Marine Protected Area (MPA); refined bathymetry revealed five submarine canyons instead of the three previously identified. 2. Large benthic fauna of the Zeehan is diverse: 154 nominal speci...

The NORFANZ project aimed to provide a major increase in scientific knowledge of marine biodiversity in the region of the Norfolk Ridge and Lord Howe Rise. It has delivered, to a high standard, one of few regional-scale deep water benthic data sets for Southern Hemisphere waters. These data are primarily an extensive collection of benthic fishes an...

The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, on 26 September 2001, announced plans to assess the conservation values of 11 unique marine areas in Australian Commonwealth waters (DEH 2004 a). Two were assessed within the framework of the South East Regional Marine Planning process in 2002 (Butler et al 2002 a and b). The Norfolk Island Seamounts a...

The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, on 26 September 2001, announced plans to assess the conservation values of 11 marine areas in Australia Commonwealth waters (DEH 2004a). Two were assess within the framework of the South East Regional Marine Planning Process. The Norfolk Island Seamounts area (NISA) is the third, and was nominated for...

Status report on metadata acquisition, analyses, and relevance: development of CAMS (Conservation Assessment Metadata System) as a tool for conservation assessments

A total of 8200 stomach samples was collected from 102 fish species caught by trawl or gillnet during research surveys on the south-eastern Australian shelf from 1993 to 1996. Diet compositions were analysed based on percentages of wet weight of prey. Of the total fish examined, 70 species had sufficient stomach samples (i.e. >10) for further analy...