Matt Rees

New South Wales Department of Primary Industries · Fishing and Aquaculture (Fisheries NSW)

Coastal ecosystems are becoming increasingly threatened by human activities and there is growing appreciation that management must consider the impacts of multiple stressors. Cumulative effects assessments (CEAs) have become a popular tool for identifying the distribution and intensity of multiple human stressors in coastal ecosystems. Few studies,...

Context Gamay is a coastal waterway of immense social, cultural and ecological value. Since European settlement, it has become a hub for industrialisation and human modification. There is growing desire for ecosystem-level management of urban waterways, but such efforts are often challenged by a lack of integrated knowledge. Aim and methods We syst...

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...

Anchor scour from shipping is increasingly recognised as a global threat to benthic marine biodiversity, yet no replicated ecological assessment exists for any seabed community. Without quantification of impacts to biota, there is substantial uncertainty for maritime stakeholders and managers of the marine estate on how these impacts can be managed...

We systematically reviewed published literature, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and consulted with local scientists to synthesise all published knowledge of Gamay’s (Botany Bay, Sydney) aquatic ecosystem, identifying key knowledge gaps and future research opportunities for this urban waterway.

While estuaries are considered valuable nurseries for many harvested fish species, little quantitative data exist about the spatial scales over which estuaries supply individuals to coastal reefs and how this influences coastal metapopulations. Quantifying this connectivity between estuaries and coastal reefs will assist the sustainable management...

Remote oceanic islands often display high levels of biodiversity and endemism, making them important locations for marine parks aimed at conserving biodiversity. To determine whether marine parks are reaching conservation objectives requires consistent assessments of their effectiveness through time. Lord Howe Island and Balls Pyramid are World Her...

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...

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...

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...

Ecosystem-based fisheries managers are increasingly seeking quantitative and spatially-explicit information on species distributions to assist with the management of fisheries and aquatic habitats. In this study, we used boosted regression trees (BRT) to build species distribution models for a highly valued coastal teleost – pink snapper (Sparidae:...

Worldwide, several countries have established coherent, representative, and large-scale networks of marine reserves to conserve biodiversity. Very few have, however, published systematic assessments of the ecological responses to this network protection, hindering broad understanding of their generality, utility, and efficacy. We present data colle...

Proximity and size of the nearest market (‘market gravity’) have been shown to have strong negative effects on coral reef fish communities that can be mitigated by the establishment of closed areas. However, moray eels are functionally unique predators that are generally not subject to targeted fishing and should therefore not directly be affected...

Millions of recreational boats and ~ 65,000 ocean-going merchant ships anchor routinely. Anchor and chain scour associated with these vessels mechanically disturb the seabed having implications for marine environments globally. Our review summarises the scientific literature that examines the response of biota to anchor scour across five habitats;...

Freshwater snails usually possess thin unadorned shells lacking structural components such as spines. Exceptions can be found on the high, well-watered islands of the South Pacific. Streams on these islands support a rich freshwater molluscan fauna with several nerite taxa (Neritimorpha: Neritidae) exhibiting extremely long dorsal spines. We sought...

An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

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...

Background Acoustic telemetry has been used with great success to quantify the movements of marine fishes in open habitats, however research has begun to focus on patterns of movement and habitat usage within more structurally complex habitats. To date, there has been no detailed assessment of the performance of acoustic telemetry within seagrass,...

1. ‘Shark attack’ presents a considerable social-environmental challenge. Each year a small number of people are injured or killed by shark bite. Concurrently, sharks and other marine life are subject to unprecedented anthropogenic pressures. 2. Shark hazard management varies globally, but lethal strategies are common, with negative consequences fo...

Context Whilst the composition and arrangement of habitats within landscape mosaics are known to be important determinants of biodiversity patterns, the influence of seascape patterning and connectivity on temperate reef fish assemblages remains largely unknown. Objectives We examined how habitat patterns at multiple spatial scales (100–1000 m) ex...

Abstract The recovery of communities of predatory fishes within a no‐take marine reserve after the eradication of illegal fishing provides an opportunity to examine the role of sharks and other large‐bodied mesopredatory fishes in structuring reef fish communities. We used baited remote underwater video stations to investigate whether an increase i...

Rocky intertidal shores are diverse ecosystems that have been extensively studied, yet there is a surprising lack of knowledge on the methods best suited to quantifying species abundance, diversity and assemblages. We compared visual census, unbaited remote underwater video (mini-RUV), baited remote underwater video (mini-BRUV) and draining/collect...

Rocky intertidal shores are diverse ecosystems that have been extensively studied, yet there is a surprising lack of knowledge on the methods best suited to quantifying species abundance, diversity and assemblages. We compared visual census, unbaited remote underwater video (mini-RUV), baited remote underwater video (mini-BRUV) and draining/collect...

Habitat classes are often used as surrogates to represent or capture species assemblages in the design of spatial conservation strategies, such as multi-use marine protected areas (MPAs). Little research, however, has critically evaluated how well habitat classes can reliably predict species distributions and abundances over scales relevant to spat...

Seascape variability may confound assessments on the effectiveness of no-take marine reserves (NTMRs) in conserving biodiversity. In most cases baseline data are lacking, resulting in evaluations of NTMR effectiveness being Control Impact (CI) assessments. Even with independent replicate areas among management zones, this approach can make it diffi...

This dataset contains the total shark catch; catch of great white shark, tiger shark and whaler sharks; estimates of netting effort; and catch per unit effort (number of sharks per 100 net days) in the Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program, NSW, Australia for netting seasons 1950–2017. ReadMe: Before using this dataset see the attached readme...

With over 70 contributors from 30 agencies, the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub has developed a suite of field manuals to describe a nationally consistent and defensible approach to marine data acquisition. This manual relates to pelagic (mid-water) BRUVS, i.e. gear designed to acquire digital video imagery of macro-organisms living in the ocean’s w...

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....

This fileset includes Baited Remote Underwater Video Station (BRUVS) figures/images in TIFF, PNG, PDF, JPG, EPS, and AI formats. The full file set is available at https://figshare.com/articles/Baited_Remote_Underwater_Video_Images_and_Figures/5708515/2 and can be reused and modified as described there.

This fileset includes Baited Remote Underwater Video Station (BRUVS) figures/images. High resolution JPGs and TIFF, PNG, PDF, JPG, EPS, and AI formats are available at https://figshare.com/articles/Baited_Remote_Underwater_Video_Images_and_Figures/5708515/2 and can be modified and reused as described there.

Mid-water baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS) are becoming an increasingly popular tool for examining pelagic fish assemblages in a non-destructive, fisheries independent manner. As the technique is relatively novel, critical methodological questions such as the most appropriate attractant for pelagic fish to mid-water RUVS remain unreso...

This study assessed whether the abundance of girellids and kyphosids was related to cover of the palatable green algae, Ulva australis and Ulva compressa, on rocky intertidal reefs in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia. No relationship was found between Ulva spp. cover and abundance of Girella tricuspidata, Girella elevata and Kyphosus sydneyan...

Aim To examine the potential of remotely sensed abiotic measures as surrogates for the abundance, diversity and community composition of temperate rocky reef fishes and sessile invertebrates. Location Batemans Marine Park, south-eastern Australia. Methods We used high-resolution bathymetric side-scan sonar imagery to quantify abiotic measures of...

Networks of no-take marine reserves and partially-protected areas (with limited fishing) are being increasingly promoted as a means of conserving biodiversity. We examined changes in fish assemblages across a network of marine reserves and two different types of partially-protected areas within a marine park over the first 5 years of its establishm...