Parks Victoria Standard Operating Procedure

Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 9Subtidal Reef Monitoring SOPExecutive SummaryShallow reef habitats cover extensive areas along the Victorian coast and are dominated byseaweeds, mobile invertebrates and fishes. These reefs are known for their high biologicalcomplexity, species diversity and productivity. They also have significant economic valuethrough commercial and recreational fishing, diving and other tourism activities. In order toeffectively manage and conserve these important and biologically rich habitats, the VictorianGovernment has established a long-term Subtidal Reef Monitoring Program (SRMP). Overtime the SRMP will provide information on the status of Victorian reef flora and fauna anddetermine the nature and magnitude of trends in species populations and species diversitythrough time.This report provides the Standard Operating Procedure for the Subtidal Reef MonitoringProject. Specific objectives of the standard operating proceedure are to:• provide consistent methods to be used by trained observers to ensure comparability ofdata over time and space;• standardise and minimise effects of biases and errors;• incorporate quality control checks to detect and minimise mistakes and errors;• incorporate quality assurance management procedures;• provide a documented description of the methods for training new observers;• ensure safe and healthy working conditions;• enable scrutiny and transparency of methods to ensure integrity, reliability andacceptance by scientists and managers; and• assist integration of standardised methods across the marine environment in Victoriaand be consistent with other large-scale and long-term ecological monitoring programs(such as the long-term marine reserve monitoring program in Tasmania undertaken bythe Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute).The Victorian Standard Operating Procedure was originally developed by Australian MarineEcology, from methods published by Edgar and Barrett (1997), for use in Victorianconditions. In 2001, a scientific workshop reviewed the method and concluded that it wasscientifically sound, however it was recommended that cost efficiency could be improved bymonitoring sites once a year (rather than twice) without significantly compromising the qualityof data and its interpretation.II