PREVIOUSLY unknown shipwrecks, blue groper habitats and a wrestling bout between a deep-water octopus and an underwater camera: scientists working on WA’s Marine Futures project, which is mapping marine habitats along the WA coast, have seen them all.

The $4.2 million project, funded by the State and Commonwealth Governments through the Natural Heritage Trust, is using cutting-edge technology to survey the marine environment at depths and in detail that has not been possible in the past.

Delivered by the University of Western Australia, other partners include Regional Natural Resource Management Councils and international survey company Fugro.

Officers from the State Departments of Fisheries, Environment and Conservation and Planning and Infrastructure, along with the WA Museum and the Federal Department of Environment and Water Resources, are also involved.

The aim of the project is to establish a benchmark that describes the state of our marine environment in terms of the habitats and the marine species that make these habitats home. The benchmark will then allow the environment to be properly monitored for changes that occur and managed appropriately.

This increased understanding will benefit both commercial and recreational users, as well as helping with marine park planning.

The overall project area covers 1440 square kilometres between the Abrolhos Islands near Geraldton and Middle Island at Esperance.

Project Manager Heather Taylor said the mapping process had used hydroacoustic survey equipment - a multi-beam sonar device attached to the hull of the project survey vessel, Kimberley Quest - to collect data as deep as 120m below the surface of the ocean.

It does this, said Dr Jessica Meeuwig, who is a research scientist on the project, by pinging the ocean bottom in large swaths.

“The pings build a picture of the bottom structure: indeed, items as small as a bar fridge can be seen on the ocean’s bottom,” she said.

The next part of the survey involved a towed video camera, which allowed scientists to get a detailed look at various underwater habitats and relate these to the data from the hydroacoustic surveys.

This aspect of the survey has also provided information about the distribution of sponge gardens, macro-algal reefs and seagrass meadows, and has traced the ancient shoreline of Rottnest Island, submerged after the last ice age 18,000 years ago.

“The final step is to use cameras to collect specific data on the organisms living on the sea bottom, as well as the fish communities found across a range of habitats,” Dr Meeuwig said.

For example, grey nurse sharks - a threatened species – have been found associated with deep-water wrecks off Rottnest Island. The abundance and size of key species such as snapper and dhufish are also being measured across the habitats and sites.

An interview program is also helping the research team understand how the marine environment may have changed already.

“The people who can tell us the most about changes that have happened are those who have lived in the areas (being surveyed) for a long time and who have used the marine environment,” Ms Taylor said.

Such changes might be the result of port and marina activity, fishing or simply the “sea change” phenomenon that is sweeping WA.

Ms Taylor said the habitat, biodiversity and human use data collected would help us understand the resource we have and would allow for future monitoring to ensure that our use and enjoyment of the marine environment remains sustainable.

The Marine Futures project is expected to be completed by June 2008.