Linking habitat and biotic patterns improves spatial management in a marine park

The Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) in northern New South Wales, Australia, covers ~720 km2 of estuarine and continental shelf areas that include rocky reef and unconsolidated habitats up to 17 km from the mainland coast to a maximum depth of 75 m. When established in 1991, there was very limited knowledge of habitats and habitat-biotic relationships in the SIMP, which constrained effective conservation planning. Subsequent mapping of sub-tidal habitats involved aerial photography and single beam sounder surveys, which then facilitated placement of broad-scale diver surveys of fishes, as key surrogate taxa on shallow reefs (<25 m).