Navigating the Great Australian Bight using system models

Abstract

The expanding blue economy means the oil and gas industry is just one of many activities in marine and coastal ecosystems. The future management of ecosystems such as the Great Australian Bight (GAB) should be based on a sound knowledge of the physical, ecological, economic and social interactions among the human and natural system components. The Great Australian Bight Research Program (GABRP) has generated extensive new knowledge about the GAB system, making it one of the most well understood deep-water Australian ecosystems. It is a complicated system, with novel and newly recognised ecosystem pathways. A set of system models have been developed to help navigate this complexity, to integrate the new information and establish improved understanding of system processes and the implications of any activities in the region – including monitoring and management.