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Marine Protected Areas
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Prepared by: Hayes, D, Furlani, D, Condie, S, Althaus, F and Butler, A, CSIRO
Department of the Environment and Heritage, August 2005
This document provides supplementary information to assist in the identification of options for marine protected areas (MPAs) in the South-east Marine Region (SEMR) (see Figure 1 in the document). The primary document guiding this process is Australia's South-east Marine Region: A user's guide to identifying candidate areas for a regional representative system of marine protected areas.
This supplementary information shows the potential spatial distribution of some pelagic and seabird species that are known to occur in the region as listed in the 'additional factors flora and fauna conservation' column in Appendix E of the user guide. It also shows geomorphic features (Map 34) for the shelf area that were not previously available in the IMCRA regionalisation. These data are not comprehensive and there are resources that have not been accessed due to time constraints.
In using this information, it is important to bear in mind that its key role will be to help refine the regional system of MPAs following the identification of MPA options largely on the basis of the primary specification (specification 1) – that is, to represent a sample of the unique features or bioregions as described in the geomorphic maps and listed in the descriptions of the bioregions and geomorphic characteristics in Appendix E of the user guide. These bioregions are based on the best scientific understanding of surrogates for broad scale ecosystems and habitats based on bioregional assessments (nutrients, temperatures, depth, ocean currents, water properties, geological and geomorphologic data) and provide some basic understanding of the type of biological assemblages that might occur in a given area . It is also important to consider other actions other than MPAs such as species-specific conservation measures that may help protect migratory and or highly mobile species that are not specifically associated with the site in question.
The data has come from a range of sources and will be presented as maps with accompanying metadata. The metadata provides users with information regarding the data's origins and known limitations. It is important to consider the metadata to ensure the data is being used in an appropriate way.
The layers contained in these maps will be presented by the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS), together with other relevant data most of which is held on the 'Neptune' database (http://neptune.oceans.gov.au ) at a series of workshops run by the Department of the Environment and Heritage and the National Oceans Office starting at the end of September 2003.
The unpublished data currently held by CSIRO Marine Research (CMR), Hobart will at all times remain the property of the appropriate researchers (identified in the metadata) and has been provided in this document on the understanding that it will be only used for the process described above.