Sinclair Knight Merz was commissioned to conduct Marine Habitat Survey and Mapping and to develop and conduct a Long Term Coral Monitoring Program at the client’s manganese mining operation on Groote Eylandt, in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Sinclair Knight Merz conducted a survey to identify and map coral reef, seagrass and open sandy habitats within an area extending 5 km north, 6 km south and about 1 km offshore from the client’s Milner Bay facilities. The survey program was developed using information gained from past studies, literature reviews and discussions with experts in the field.
The survey and mapping task successfully described and quantified coral reef and seagrass composition in Milner Bay, and provided a baseline upon which future monitoring, including recommendations for monitoring strategies, could be based.
A pilot study was conducted by the firm to develop an effective design for long term monitoring of the coral communities. The design incorporated transects at shallow and deep sites for control and impact locations. Sufficient replication was calculated from power analysis of initial results.
Transects were constructed at 12 locations within the study area. They were surveyed by Sinclair Knight Merz scientists with a standardised video technique introduced and widely used by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The firm then assembled and analysed representative images from each transect, compiled descriptive statistics comprising means and standard errors from video data, and carried out multivariate and power analysis of the data.
The long term coral monitoring was conducted for over five years.