1. Develop appropriate methods for determining relationships between the spatial arrangement of estuarine habitats (habitat mosaics) and their biota including fish, crustaceans and molluscs and more sedentary epibenthos (eg comparing the fauna of isolated seagrass with that of seagrass close to mangroves).

2. Document patterns of abundance and diversity of fish and decapods in different habitat mosaics from degraded and relatively undisturbed areas of estuarine embayments, in tow latitudinally separated areas (Moreton Bay) and taking into account position within an embayment (eg western side versus eastern side versus southern side)

3. Increase our understanding of fisheries-habitat links using a combination of standardised survey methods in Queensland and make comparisons with the results obtained in Victoria using the same methods and gear types.

4. Identify the relative importance of different nearshore habitats for key fish and decapod species from recruitment to older life-history stages and compare these results with those obtained for similar species and trophic groups in Victoria.