The Education Award Panel has selected Jacquomo Monk for the Australasian Hydrographic
Society Education Award 2009.
The Australasian Hydrographic Society Patron, Vice-Admiral Chris Ritchie RAN(Retd.), presented the 2009 AHS Educational Award to recipient Jacquomo Monk at a luncheon in his honour hosted by Educational Award Committee Chair Dan Fitzhenry on 10th May 2010. The financial component of the Award had been made earlier in the year. Jacquomo was passing through Sydney on his way home from the GeoHab Conference recently held in Wellington, NZ.
The
title of his PhD research project being undertaken at the School of Life and
Environmental Sciences, Deakin University is "Understanding demersal
fish-habitat associations using video observations and sonar imaging".
The
project utilises the recent advances in underwater remote sensing (e.g. acoustic
positioning, multibeam sonar and remotely operated underwater video) to
generate detailed remotely sensed data to investigate the spatial relationships
between seafloor characteristics and marine coastal fishes in southwest
Victoria. Innovative spatially explicit predictive modelling techniques will be
applied to gain greater understanding of these relationships. The
resultant models will enable us to improve our understanding of the spatial distribution and
complexity of habitat requirements for coastal marine fish species. The
subsequent information is essential to better manage these
vulnerable, rare and ecologically important communities.
Report from Jaquomo on his first six months work.[30 July 2010]
I am currently mid way through my final year
of my PhD candidature with the GeoSpatial Group at Deakin University
Warrnambool. The GeoSpatial Group has played a pivotal role in the Victorian
Marine Habitat Mapping Project that has been involved in the collection and
analysis of more than 1400 km2 of multibeam sonar data, over 500
linear km of towed video data, and around 240 hrs of baited underwater video
data. Using these datasets, my doctoral studies have centred on predicting
spatial patterns in marine demersal fishes using spatially-explicit modelling
approaches.
Upon receiving the 2009 Australasian
Hydrographic Society Education Award, I was fortunate enough to be able to
attend and present at GeoHab 2010 in Wellington NZ, as well as at a two day
post-conference workshop that specifically discussed to the growing use of
predictive modelling approaches in the marine environment. Both GeoHab and
post-conference workshop had an important international scope with around 30
countries represented from all continents, including a strong Australian
presence.
The Australasian Hydrographic Society
Education Award provided me with a remarkable opportunity to meet and interact
with internationally renowned researchers in my field in the final stages of my
PhD studies. There is no doubt that my perspective and research trajectory have
benefitted immeasurably from the feedback, contacts and ideas I was able to
gather as a result of attending this conference and workshop. It is also
extremely rewarding to recognise that Australian scientists are contributing
significantly at an international level in developing ideas and techniques for
marine spatial modelling and mapping.
I extend my most profound gratitude to the Australasian
Hydrographic Society for making this unique opportunity available to me and for
the fantastic luncheon and warm welcome I received whilst being presented this
award early this year. It has given me a significant head start on a research
career and provided me with key links to members of the international
scientific community. I strongly urge all students to apply for this award.
Thanks also to my colleagues and supervisors at Deakin University for their
continuing support and guidance. I look forward to updating you all with my
research as I reach the completion of my PhD in January 2011.
Jacquomo Monk
Abstract of the Work presented
at GeoHab 2010, Wellington, New Zealand.
Spatial prediction of demersal fish
habitat suitability from remotely-sensed observation and hydroacoustic datasets
Jacquomo Monk 1, Daniel
Ierodiaconou 1, Alecia Bellgrove 1, Euan Harvey 2,
Alex Rattray1, Laurie Laurenson 1 and Gerry Quinn 1
1
Deakin
University, Warrnambool, Australia
2 University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
A
fundamental step in the planning of conservation and management programs is the
generation of species distribution maps and a detailed knowledge of the main
environmental factors influencing their distribution. However, in countries
with long and complex coastlines, such as Australia, direct observation of
species is practically and economically difficult. Consequently, alternative
methods are required. With the increased availability
of detailed spatially-explicit remotely-sensed seafloor and observation
datasets, there is potential to use this information to quantify habitat
suitability for marine coastal fishes. We combine multi-beam sonar derived
seafloor variables with fish observation data, obtained from remotely-operated
underwater video, to compare the predictive performance of
multiple presence-only modelling approaches. We test the predictive ability of
these modelling approaches in determining potential habitat suitability of five
marine coastal fishes in Victoria, southern Australia.
