Marine and coastal biological diversity

30. 
    Do your country’s strategies and action plans include the following? Please use an “X” to indicate your response. (Decisions II/10 and IV/15)
    

1. 
   Developing new marine and coastal protected areas
   

2. 
   Improving the management of existing marine and coastal protected areas
   

3. 
   Building capacity within the country for management of marine and coastal resources, including through educational programmes and targeted research initiatives (if yes, please elaborate on types of initiatives in the box below)
   

4. 
   Instituting improved integrated marine and coastal area management (including catchments management) in order to reduce sediment and nutrient loads into the marine environment
   

5. 
   Protection of areas important for reproduction, such as spawning and nursery areas
   

6. 
   Improving sewage and other waste treatment
   

7. 
   Controlling excessive fishing and destructive fishing practices
   

8. 
   Developing a comprehensive oceans policy (if yes, please indicate current stage of development in the box below)
   

9. 
   Incorporation of local and traditional knowledge into management of marine and coastal resources (if yes, please elaborate on types of management arrangements in the box below)
   

10. 
    Others (please specify below)
    

11. 
    Not applicable
    

The Australian Government is committed to the protection of Australia’s ocean ecosystems and biodiversity by promoting the sustainable use of fisheries resources.

For Commonwealth (as opposed to state or territory) managed fisheries, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority is required under legislation to manage fisheries so as to minimise the impact of fishing on biological diversity and ecosystem habitat. The EPBC Act is applied to the management of Commonwealth managed fisheries, and all fisheries (including State and Northern Territory fisheries) with an export component. The Act is applied by way of an assessment of the ecological sustainability of fisheries management arrangements against published guidelines addressing impacts on target species, by-product, bycatch and the broader ecosystem. The system is designed to ensure that commercial fisheries are being managed in an ecologically sustainable manner.

By-catch, and relatively slow uptake of mitigation methods by the commercial fishing industry, is being addressed a range of policy settings (Australian Government and National bycatch policies). These policies have been developed to ensure fisheries are ecologically sustainable through bycatch reduction, improved protection for vulnerable or threatened species and by minimising adverse impacts of fishing on the marine environment. Central to these policies is recognition that bycatch is a cross-cutting issue necessitating a strategic and coordinated approach based on its resource availability, environmental, educational, engineering and economic elements. Under the Australian Government's policy on fisheries bycatch, Bycatch Action Plans have been developed for all Commonwealth managed fisheries.

The Australian Government is currently reviewing the Threat Abatement Plan for the Incidental Catch (or by-catch) of Seabirds during Oceanic Longline Fishing Operations (TAP). The TAP was initially prepared in 1998 in response to longline fishing being listed as a Key Threatening Process under the EPBC Act. A package of fisheries regulations was implemented in accordance with the TAP.

Funded under the Australian Government’s National Heritage Trust (NHT), SeaNet is an environmental extension service to the Australian seafood industry, to facilitate work in reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and thus further contributing to sustainable fisheries management. “SeaNet” provides information and advice on improved fishing gear, technology and methods. “SeaNet’s” extension officers liaise with commercial fishers, drawing on their local knowledge and expertise, to ensure the development of the most effective and practical ways to reduce bycatch.

This GBRMPA-Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) collaboration has recently been established. It aims to increase capacity for management of the Great Barrier Reef under future climate change scenarios, through targeted collaborations with research teams. These are being developed specifically to increase knowledge about climate change impacts and to identify management actions that can help minimise these impacts on the GBR ecosystem, as well as on the industries and communities that depend on it.

The Australian Government’s CCI is developing programs to achieve target reductions in pollution from sources such as heavy metals, sewage, excess nutrients, waste oil and chemicals, transport emissions and toxic air pollutants, to improve estuarine and coastal water quality. See: http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/pollution/cci/index.html.

The National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and the extension of the Natural Heritage Trust are programs through which the Australian Government is making a significant investment in natural resource management through a regional delivery framework.

30. 
    Has your country established and/or strengthened institutional, administrative and legislative arrangements for the development of integrated management of marine and coastal ecosystems?
    

1. 
   No
   

2. 
   Early stages of development
   

3. 
   Advanced stages of development
   

4. 
   Arrangements in place (please provide details below)
   

5. 
   Not applicable
   

30. 
    Has your country implemented ecosystem-based management of marine and coastal resources, for example through integration of coastal management and watershed management, or through integrated multidisciplinary coastal and ocean management?
    

1. 
   No
   

1. 
   Early stages of development
   

2. 
   Advanced stages of development
   

3. 
   Arrangements in place (please provide details below)
   

4. 
   Not applicable