National intertidal/subtidal benthic (NISB) habitat classification scheme v1.0

Product Information

Intertidal and shallow water benthic habitat mapping is conducted in all Australian states and the Northern Territory by a variety of agencies and for a range of purposes. The various classification schemes used are designed for these specific purposes and there is not necessarily consistency between the resultant mappings. Typically, the States and NT have focused their mapping efforts on defining habitat extent at various resolutions (see discussion below), while Commonwealth Government agencies have been focused on bioregionalisation at very broad extents and resolutions, such as biomes, bioregions and upwards to provinces (Butler et al., 2001).

A series of national initiatives would benefit from access to finer resolution estuarine, coastal and marine (ECM) key habitat maps that have a nationally consistent classification and, ideally, national coverage. These include the Australian Greenhouse Office’s Australian Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change project and the Audit’s national ECM resource condition assessments (see Project Aims below). At the same time, a nationally consistent system would enable comparisons among state and regional habitat maps.