1. Stereo-BRUVs assessment of South Africa’s MPAs
Anthony Bernard, Albrecht Götz and many many others

2. Baited remote underwater stereo-video systems
© E. Heyns

3. Marine protected area research
Approach
Inside versus Outside:
Reef habitats within MPAs are compared to similar (e.g. depth, structure) adjacent or near-by reefs.
Reference sites:
Reef habitats within old established and functional MPAs are assumed to represent reference ecological conditions.

4. Marine protected area research
MPAs visited to date
Table Mountain
De Hoop
Goukamma
Tsitsikamma
Bird Island
Amathole
Pondoland

5. Table Mountain National Park MPA
(De Vos, Bernard, Gotz and Attwood)
Mapping biodiversity in False Bay to inform marine spatial planning.
Lauren De Vos, PhD candidate, UCT
stereo-BRUVs
FalseBay
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Exploited 86
4.9
84.3
MPA 52
4.5
28.5
Total
138

6. De Hoop MPA
(Llewellyn, Kerwath, Winker, Bernard and Gotz)
How effective if the De Hoop MPA from a fisheries and conservation perspective?
Map of the De Hoop MPA showing the two areas that were the focus of the study
The effect of protection and habitat on the fish assemblage structure
Long-term trends in predicted CPUE for reef fish from the commercial line-fisheries in the vicinity of the De Hoop MPA
stereo-BRUVs
De Hoop
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
De Hoop MPA 49 10
59.9
Exploited 53
10.8
54.8
Total
102
Richard Llewellyn, MSc candidate, Rhodes University

7. Goukamma MPA
(Mayer, De Vos, Bernard, Gotz and Attwood)
Adapting optimal reef fish monitoring protocols to ensure long-term feasible monitoring by conservation authorities.
Wayne Mayer, MSc candidate, Cape Nature
Core objectives:
Compare the statistical power of data collected with GoPro-BRUVs and stereo-BRUVs
Develop and test MaxN correction factors to enable comparison of data collected with GoPro’s and Handycams.
stereo-BRUVs
Goukamma
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Exploited NA
MPA 22 5 23
Total

8. Tsitsikamma National Park MPA
(Heyns, Parker, Smith, Mayer, Halse, Schmidt, Juby, Bloy, Dyer, Richoux, Harvey, Langlois, Winker, Bernard, Gotz)
Numerous research questions:
Method comparison and optimisation
Long-term monitoring
Ecological research
MPA effectiveness
Dr Ali Gotz, SAEON Elwandle, SA
stereo-BRUVs
Tsitsikamma
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Exploited 64
8.7
62.4
MPA
359
6.8
80.7
Total
423

9. Addo National Park MPA & Algoa Bay
(Halse, Schmidt, Juby, Dyer, Bernard, Gotz)
Numerous research questions:
Method comparison and optimisation
Long-term monitoring
Ecological research
MPA effectiveness
The effect of time of day and depth zone on the abundance of spiny dog-fish
The effect of time of day and depth zone on the reef fish assemblage structure in Algoa Bay
stereo-BRUVs
Algoa Bay
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Exploited
182 13
98.6
MPA 28 16 74
Total
210
Sarah Halse, Nick Schmidt, Roxy Juby, Alexei Dyer, BScH & MSc candidates, RU

10. Amathole MPAs
(Philips, Van der Bank, Bernard and Gotz)
How effective are the Amathole MPAs, and do they provide adequate protection to the reef fish typical to the region?
Moraea Philips, MSc candidate, Rhodes University
stereo-BRUVs
Amathole
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Exploited 78
12.9
112.8
MPA 91 12
73.3
Total
169

11. Pondoland MPA Objectives: stereo-BRUVs Depth refuge
(Heyns, Parker, Bernard, Mann, Maggs, Gotz)
Objectives:
Depth refuge
Effects of fishing on lower trophic level fish
MPA effectiveness
Bruce Mann, ORI
stereo-BRUVs
Tsitsikamma
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Exploited 36 13
72.5
MPA 18
82.9
Total 72

12. Large-scale research objectives
Table Mountain
De Hoop
Goukamma
Tsitsikamma
Bird Island
Amathole
Pondoland
How effective is our current MPA network at protecting reef fish occurring across our continental shelf?
e.g. The value of MPAs for dageraad (Chrysoblephus cristiceps).

13. Large-scale research objectives
LT Objective: Mapping the distribution of fish species, abundances and sizes around the south and east coastlines of South Africa.

14. Inaccessible reefs stereo-BRUVs
(Kerwath, Wilke, Bernard, Gotz)
Assessment of the reef fish on the Agulhas Bank.
stereo-BRUVs
Agulhas Bank
Samples
min Depth
max Depth
Rocky bank 14 26 71
6Mile 3 63 68
Outer 12Mile 6 67 90
Alphard Bank 38
72Mile Bank (Aandsklip) 83
Cape Barracuda 36 58
Dalgleesh Bank 12 31 80
Tsitsikamma Point 15Mile 70
103
Tsitsikamma Point 20Mile 10
107
Tsitsikamma Point 2Mile 32 54
Total 75
Crew of the Ellen Kuzwayo deploying a stereo-BRUVs

15. Where to from here (2016 – 2018)? Improved sampling equipment
Development of light-weight stereo-video systems and drop cameras.
Development of deep water stereo-video systems (utilizing acoustic release technology).
Acquisition of diver operated stereo-video systems for fish and invertebrate surveys.
Acquisition of a dedicated coastal research RIB for platform users.

16. Where to from here (2016 – 2018)? Table Mountain De Hoop Goukamma
Research:
Work towards expanding our MPA/spatial coverage.
Fill key gaps (Wild Coast, Agulhas Bank, West Coast).
Dwesa-Cwebe
Hluleka
Aliwal Shoal
iSimangaliso
Table Mountain
De Hoop
Goukamma
Tsitsikamma
Bird Island
Amathole
Pondoland

17. Thanks.
Questions?

19. BRUVs and stereo-BRUVs
Low cost
Lightweight
Easily standardised
Can be deployed off any vessel
Provide only abundance and species composition.
Stereo-BRUVs
Expensive
Heavy
Easily standardised
Requires a davit arm and capstan/windlass
Provide abundance and species composition
Provides length data!
At the same time as we were doing our research two other developments were taking place.
On the one side GoPros came onto the market and they allowed for the development of very low-cost and simple mono-camera BRUVs.
And in Australia, researchers and software developers had created stereo-video sampling setups.
One major advantage over BRUVs = length measurements.
Why length NB: Fisheries, Ecology, Size structured communities, changes in habitat use related to size.

20. Amathole MPA research project
Progress to date:
Invertebrates
PhD student currently working on the project.

21. Amathole MPA research project
Gxulu MPA:
Invertebrates
PhD student currently working on the project.

22. Amathole MPA research project
Gonubie MPA:
Invertebrates
PhD student currently working on the project.

23. Amathole MPA research project
Kei MPA:
Invertebrates
PhD student currently working on the project.

24. Amathole MPA research project
Offshore areas:
Invertebrates
PhD student currently working on the project.

25. Methods research How biased are angling surveys?
Plots illustrating the difference in the fish assemblage data collected with Angling and stereo-BRUVs
Plots comparing the number of samples required by the different sampling methods to produce equivalent data
Denham Parker, PhD, Rhodes University
We have a LTM project in Tsitsi however this employs angling to collect the data and we wanted to shift the method to stereo-BRUVs so Denham Parker, who was one of the original PhD students working on the project took the opportunity to work out how biased angling surveys were.
The results showed:
Angling focused on a few species (i.e. roman) but stereo-BRUVs provided a much more complete picture of the fish assemblage.
The power analysis also supported stereo-BRUVs highlighting anglings inability to sample the community with the exception of roman.