Benthic biotopes were derived from a variety of geophysical and cartographic data sources:
• Terrain and bathymetric lidar provided by DELWP (2.5 to 5 m horizontal resolution);
• Mosaiced aerial imagery provided by DELWP
•Multibeam echosounder bathymetry provided by the Port of Melbourne Corporation (0.5-1 m horizontal resolution); and
•Hand digitized points from navigation charts AUS 143, 144, 154, 155, 157 and 158, provided by Deakin University.
•Boundaries of modified areas, such as channels, dredged material grounds, anchorages and aquaculture areas were
digitised by hand from navigation charts (as above). Sand borrow areas were digitised from the shaded relief maps.
Marine
protected area boundaries were included from coordinates provided by Parks Victoria.
These were supplemented with biological information from:
• Victorian Subtidal Reef Monitoring Program (SRMP) provides quantitative data at 118 sites
between Warrnambool and Cape Howe (1998 to 2015);
• Victorian Intertidal Reef Monitoring Program (IRMP) includes 20 sites from Warrnambool
to Bunurong (2003 to 2014);
• intertidal reef assemblage descriptions by Bennett and Pope (1953), King et al. (1971) and
Womersley (1984);
• deep reef surveys for Parks Victoria and the Port Phillip Bay Channel Deepening Project
(Edmunds et al. 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010);
• seagrass and sediment habitat mapping by the Victorian Marine and Freshwater Resources
Institute (Roob and Ball 1997; Roob et al. 1998; Blake et al. 2000; Blake and Ball 2001a,
2001b);
• sediment habitat studies as part of the EPA Port Phillip Bay Environment Study, MAFRI
epibenthic and infauna studies and the Port Phillip Bay Channel Deepening Project; and
• mangrove and saltmarsh habitat description and mapping by Boon et al. (2011).
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