The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has developed a new online mapping tool which identify fisheries assets and aquatic environmental features.
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DPI deputy director general fisheries, Dr Geoff Allan, said the information can be easily accessed through the department’s website.
“This is great way of easily accessing important environmental information at the click of a button,” Dr Allan said.
“Information is available on aquaculture leases, NSW Marine Protected Areas, estuarine macrophytes (seagrass, mangroves and saltmarsh), Freshwater Fish Community Status and threatened species.
“The information is useful to industry, consultants, other government agencies, educational institutions, local councils, developers, non-government organisations and the general public.
“For the first time this detailed data is available free of charge, online and downloadable as maps or shapefiles, in line with the NSW government’s open data policy.
“Previously, requests for such data were dealt with on an individual basis by a range of fisheries staff, which took considerable time and resources.”
Dr Allan said the portal provides access to detailed maps, key datasets and metadata all in one place.
“For example anyone can use the portal to examine a particular area of NSW and find out what key fisheries assets occur in that area,” Dr Allan said.
“This will greatly assist environmental consultants or researchers, for instance, who need access to fisheries spatial data.
“This new portal allows them to download the most recent data as a shapefile to incorporate in their analysis.”
The portal is available at https://webmap.industry.nsw.gov.au/Html5Viewer/index.html?viewer=Fisheries_Data_Portal.
