Publications

PDF file

• Australia's Marine Science and Technology Plan - An Overview (PDF - 1.79 MB)

Executive summary

Australia’s ocean environment is vast. Our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 11 million square kilometres. The EEZ around the mainland, at 8.6 million square kilometres, is larger than Australia itself (7.8m sq km); while the EEZ off the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) embraces a further 2.4m sq km. Beyond the EEZ, our Legal Continental Shelf off the mainland and AAT extends for an estimated further 5.1m sq km.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), we have the opportunity to confirm a claim to this area by 2004. Together with the EEZ, the combined total area of 16.1m sq km is known as Australia’s Marine Jurisdiction (AMJ).

Australia’s Marine Science and Technology Plan is concerned with developing a better understanding of the nature of the AMJ:

• to understand the form and structure of the seabed;
• to understand the ocean’s thermal characteristics, current patterns and chemistry, and its role in our weather and climate;
• to understand our marine species and ecosystems, and their behaviour over time;
• to assist environmental conservation; and
• to support the ecologically sustainable long term planning and management of our marine resources and environments.

We need to meet these challenges in a region that encompasses all types of ocean temperature zones, from tropical to polar, and an extensive and diverse range of ecosystems and species, many of which are unique in the world. We also need to respond to the diverse needs of users of our waters, and guide the development of sustainable maritime industries in the context of ecosystem-based and multiple-use management regimes.

The resources needed for this include:

• a skills and knowledge base with which to build understanding;
• accurate and detailed geoscientific, oceanographic, biological and ecosystems information;
• the means to gather and analyse this information, including refurbished and additional research infrastructure; and
• improved data management capabilities to permit integration and expansion of nationally important data sets.

Our marine science, technology and engineering capabilities are characterised by a degree of specialisation that puts us at the forefront of certain fields, from knowledge of tropical reef ecosystems to fast vessel design and construction. We are building our knowledge of regions and using this in a range of applications – conservation and environmental protection, offshore petroleum exploration and production, navigation guidelines, shipping, and sustainable fisheries resource management programs.

The Plan builds on these strengths in presenting proposals for integrated and innovative science and technology, conducted in the national interest to guide the exploration and ecologically sustainable development and management of the marine resources under our jurisdiction; to understand and predict climate variability and change; and to support the sustainable development of existing and new marine industries. It also addresses our ability to meet our international commitments, and the need to encourage effective community participation, including through the integration of indigenous knowledge in understanding and managing marine resources.

The Plan defines twenty-nine objectives for the national effort in marine science, technology and engineering, through three Programs:

1. Understanding the marine environment;
2. Using and caring for the marine environment; and
3. Infrastructure for understanding and utilising the marine environment.

The objectives, and particular strategies for achieving them, arise from a review of national circumstances that included consideration of the issues and programs identified in Australia’s Oceans Policy, released by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator the Hon Robert Hill, in December 1998.

The Plan takes a long view. Its proposed responses to national issues, needs and priorities are intended to be addressed over a period of ten to fifteen years, although within that period, some proposed actions and initiatives are identified as priorities for consideration in the shorter term – over the next three to five years. These are:

• complete the mapping, data interpretation and processing required to define our AMJ boundary, in time for lodgement with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf by November 2004;
• continue to map the form and nature of the seabed, and collate and digitise seabed data sets, commencing in the South East Region in support of the Oceans Policy’s South East Regional Marine Plan;
• develop an integrated southern temperate research program, linking State-based and Commonwealth research organisations to improve knowledge and sustainable resource use, and to support the Regional Marine Planning process;
• develop a multidisciplinary northern tropical research program, focused in the Torres Strait/ Arafura/Timor Sea Region;
• strengthen and increase the marine science skills base, to give us the capacity to learn more, and to respond to expected increased future demands from coastal and marine industries;
• upgrade the Research Vessels Franklin and Southern Surveyor, and extend their days at sea as National Facilities;
• improve national capability and reduce recurrent research costs by: – acquiring a domestic deep water swath mapping capability; – refurbishing existing and establishing new island research stations; and – providing new hydrodynamics facilities for the design and testing of offshore platforms and high speed vessels;
• implement an Australian Ocean Observing System (AOOS), designed to improve marine observing capability, links between existing facilities, and to support our participation in international oceanographic and meteorological observation programs such as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS);
• coordinate the linking and management of nationally important data sets, and their enhancement, by establishing a new National Marine Data Group, serviced by a secretariat in the Australian Land Information Group (AUSLIG), with links to the Heads of (Commonwealth) Marine Agencies, the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure and the Australia and New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC); and
• monitor and report on the implementation of issues identified in the Marine Science and Technology Plan, through a new Marine Science Advisory Group, whose core membership is drawn from agencies in the Industry, Science and Resources (ISR) portfolio, with secretariat support from that Department.