A regionalisation of Australian waters (excluding waters adjacent to the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and waters adjacent to the Australian Antarctic Territory) derived from deep-water demersal fish assemblages. A total of 41 onshelf and offshelf provincial bioregions were identified for IMCRA v4.0.Onshelf provincial bioregions are based on the 17 IMCRA v3.3 demersal provinces and biotones identified in 1997.Offshelf provincial bioregions were defined in 2004 as part of a program run by Geoscience Australia, CSIRO Marine Research and the National Oceans Office. They represent units that contain broad patterns in biodiversity, as represented by deep-water demersal fish assemblages, based on the assumption that the demersal fish distributions are a surrogate of marine faunal distributions. Below 2,000 m water depth, the boundaries of the benthic provincial bioregions are defined solely by the NMB (National Marine Bioregionalisation) geomorphic features data set. A total of 24 offshelf benthic provincial bioregions were defined on this basis, including 15 core bioregions representing areas of endemism, and 9 transition zones representing areas of faunal mixing.For IMCRA v4.0 the coastline was replaced with the national 100k coastline to provide greater consistency. The Australian EEZ limit was sourced from AMB v2. Based on a decision by the Bioregionalisation Working Group, the shelf break from IMCRA v3.3 was largely retained, although in some instances the shelf break from the NMB (National Marine Bioregionalisation) provincial bioregions was used.

A regionalisation of Australian waters (excluding waters adjacent to the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and waters adjacent to the Australian Antarctic Territory) derived from deep-water demersal fish assemblages. A total of 41 onshelf and offshelf provincial bioregions were identified for IMCRA v4.0.Onshelf provincial bioregions are based on the 17 IMCRA v3.3 demersal provinces and biotones identified in 1997.Offshelf provincial bioregions were defined in 2004 as part of a program run by Geoscience Australia, CSIRO Marine Research and the National Oceans Office. They represent units that contain broad patterns in biodiversity, as represented by deep-water demersal fish assemblages, based on the assumption that the demersal fish distributions are a surrogate of marine faunal distributions. Below 2,000 m water depth, the boundaries of the benthic provincial bioregions are defined solely by the NMB (National Marine Bioregionalisation) geomorphic features data set. A total of 24 offshelf benthic provincial bioregions were defined on this basis, including 15 core bioregions representing areas of endemism, and 9 transition zones representing areas of faunal mixing.For IMCRA v4.0 the coastline was replaced with the national 100k coastline to provide greater consistency. The Australian EEZ limit was sourced from AMB v2. Based on a decision by the Bioregionalisation Working Group, the shelf break from IMCRA v3.3 was largely retained, although in some instances the shelf break from the NMB (National Marine Bioregionalisation) provincial bioregions was used.

An inshore regionalisation of Australian waters derived from biological and physical data, including the distribution of demersal fishes, marine plants and invertebrates, sea floor geomorphology and sediments, and oceanographic data.The meso-scale regionalisation was compiled from information supplied to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water by the relevant State, Northern Territory and Commonwealth marine research and management agencies.The seaward extent for the meso-scale IMCRA coverage is defined by the 200m isobath except where this boundary extends beyond the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (AEEZ).

A regionalisation of Australian waters (excluding waters adjacent to the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and waters adjacent to the Australian Antarctic Territory) derived from deep-water demersal fish assemblages. A total of 41 onshelf and offshelf provincial bioregions were identified for IMCRA v4.0. Onshelf provincial bioregions are based on the 17 IMCRA v3.3 demersal provinces and biotones identified in 1997. Offshelf provincial bioregions were defined in 2004 as part of a program run by Geoscience Australia, CSIRO Marine Research and the National Oceans Office. They represent units that contain broad patterns in biodiversity, as represented by deep-water demersal fish assemblages, based on the assumption that the demersal fish distributions are a surrogate of marine faunal distributions. Below 2,000 m water depth, the boundaries of the benthic provincial bioregions are defined solely by the NMB (National Marine Bioregionalisation) geomorphic features data set. A total of 24 offshelf benthic provincial bioregions were defined on this basis, including 15 core bioregions representing areas of endemism, and 9 transition zones representing areas of faunal mixing. For IMCRA v4.0 the coastline was replaced with the national 100k coastline to provide greater consistency. The Australian EEZ limit was sourced from AMB v2. Based on a decision by the Bioregionalisation Working Group, the shelf break from IMCRA v3.3 was largely retained, although in some instances the shelf break from the NMB (National Marine Bioregionalisation) provincial bioregions was used.

An inshore regionalisation of Australian waters derived from biological and physical data, including the distribution of demersal fishes, marine plants and invertebrates, sea floor geomorphology and sediments, and oceanographic data.The meso-scale regionalisation was compiled from information supplied to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water by the relevant State, Northern Territory and Commonwealth marine research and management agencies.The seaward extent for the meso-scale IMCRA coverage is defined by the 200m isobath except where this boundary extends beyond the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (AEEZ).

The Marine Nature Reserve dataset includes areas of Tasmanian State Waters that have been defined as Marine Nature Reserves by the Tasmanian Fisheries Rules 1999. Where part of the Reserve allows restricted fishing, a separate region is created for that part with a note in the Comment field of "Restricted Take". All other Marine Nature Reserves prohibit fishing. Refer to Fisheries Rules 1999 (SR158 of 1999) for details. The Marine Nature Reserves contained within this dataset are: Governor Island Marine Nature Reserve, Maria Island Marine Nature Reserve, Ninepin Point Marine Nature Reserve, Tinderbox Marine Nature Reserve, Kent Group Marine Nature Reserve, Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour Marine Nature Reserve.

An inshore regionalisation of Australian waters derived from biological and physical data, including the distribution of demersal fishes, marine plants and invertebrates, sea floor geomorphology and sediments, and oceanographic data.\n\nThe meso-scale regionalisation was compiled from information supplied to the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage by the relevant State, Northern Territory and Commonwealth marine research and management agencies.\n\nThe seaward extent for the meso-scale IMCRA coverage is defined by the 200m isobath except where this boundary extends beyond the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (AEEZ).

The benthic (sea floor) component of the National Marine Bioregionalisation covers the 80% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone that lies beyond the continental shelf break. It provides a description of patterns of biological distributions and physical habitats on the seafloor. The Benthic Bioregionalisation Report is a technical document describing how the benthic bioregions were created. It includes descriptions of all the datasets used, details of each bioregion, and examples of how the physical data may be used to sub-divide the marine bioregions for management. An evaluation of the benthic bioregionalisation including strengths, weaknesses and future work is also contained in the report.