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Remote - Sensing and GIS Technologies - Supporting the Protection of Representative Fish Habitats in Queensland
Christina de Vries, K F Danaher and M C Dunning
Queensland Fisheries Service, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
Theme: TH2
One of the barriers to the implementation of the comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has been the absence of a quantitative information base to protect coastal biodiversity. Before an area can be assessed as representative, the full range of habitats present needs to be documented. Remote sensing, using Landsat TM satellite imagery, has provided a cost-effective and timely method of assessing the coastal wetland resources of Queensland to aid in the development of a CAR system of MPAs through the Fish Habitat Area (FHA) network. Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery of the coastal zone was processed using an unsupervised classification technique. Results were validated with aerial photography and ground-truthing. A broad scale (1: 100 000) coverage of the coastal wetland community types along the entire Queensland coastline was developed. Spatial analysis of this coverage was undertaken. Analysis of coastal wetland resources within marine and coastal bioregions (Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park regions) and FHAs was (STET) used to assess the degree to which existing FHAs protect representative coastal wetland communities. This analysis was also used to identify gaps in the FHA network and to set priorities for future investigation of FHAs.
