Advancing standardisation of COastal and Nearshore demersal fish visual CENSUS techniques

Fishes play a critical role in the function of coastal ecosystems and provide nutrition and livelihoods for millions of people, but are threatened by numerous anthropogenic pressures. Broad-scale datasets are required to determine the generality of lessons derived from local ecological studies and ultimately provide the context to evaluate the most important and widespread threats to fish and associated ecosystems globally. 

Research on coastal and nearshore demersal fishes has been largely carried out at local scales, with limited standardisation or coordination among projects and organisations. This compromises data interoperability and reduces opportunities to answer pressing broad-scale questions. To identify solutions to this problem, CoNCENSUS aims to (a) advance our understanding of the complementarity and interoperability of data collected by different visual census methods, and (b) undertake parallel evaluations of the status of coastal and nearshore demersal fish assemblages, and the processes structuring them over spatial scales relevant to regional and global reporting. 

The Working Group will enable the adoption of best practice guidelines and protocols for the collection, management, and curation of fish survey observations based on traditional and novel methodologies in order to provide recommendations on how best to utilise data from multiple methods to monitor and study coastal fish populations from local to global scales. Furthermore, CoNCENSUS will develop workflows and tools for the management, publication and visualisation of open-access data.

It aims to lay the foundation for relevant and sustained research that encourages capacity development, furthers our fundamental understanding of coastal ecosystems, and provides essential support for policy and decision-makers.