This report gives a protocol for Type 1 monitoring of Marlborough Sounds salmon farms and fits within broader best management practice guidelines for assessing benthic enrichment. It provides a standardised approach for science providers who undertake rapid benthic health assessments around these farms. Type 1 monitoring is the least intense form of monitoring with greater emphasis on qualitative indicator variables that can be rapidly evaluated enabling quick feedback on benthic health.

This is a guidance document to inform the development and implementation of benthic monitoring of salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. It was first published in 2015, revised in 2019, and further revised in this version after an out-of-cycle review in 2022. It aims to provide consistent and clear requirements for the benthic monitoring and management of existing farms, based around an agreed set of environmental quality standards with accompanying rationale.

This report describes an approach to prepare and age statoliths of Nototodarus sloanii.