Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Research Articles

Extreme events, loss, and grief—an evaluation of the evolving management of climate change threats on the Great Barrier Reef

Coral reefs across the world have demonstrated an incredible resilience to disturbance, having persisted for over 200 million years withstanding local, short-term shocks such as cyclones and bleaching events, as well as large-scale, long-term global changes such as sea-level fluctuations. However, there are now many persistent and growing threats to the health and productivity of global reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), including water temperature change and subsequent coral bleaching, invasive species, severe weather events, and water quality degradation. Among these, it is widely acknowledged that climate change is the greatest threat to the GBR, with the GBR Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) releasing a position statement on climate change in 2019, compellingly arguing the urgent need for climate change action for the GBR. For the past two decades, researchers have strongly emphasized the need for vigorous implementation of management strategies that support global reef resilience. This study provides a critical review of the response to this call to action and the barriers and opportunities for implementing transformative resilience actions across a range of social-ecological and natural resource management contexts. Bringing the concepts of environmental grief and resilience thinking together, this study reflects on how back-to-back coral bleaching events in 2016–2017 have changed the framing of GBR management. However, there is more work to be done to ensure that all actors responsible for GBR management accept and embrace change in order to enable transformative resilience, which, for an environment feeling the heat of climate and non-climate pressures, will maintain at least some of their critical environmental, social, and economic values.

Near-reef and nearshore tropical cyclone wave climate in the Great Barrier Reef with and without reef structure

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) coral coverage is in rapid decline from severe and sustained pressures from lagoon water quality, crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), coral bleaching, tropical cyclones, pollution and diseases. The two recent GBR coral bleaching events (2016–2017) lead to Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) shifting their focus from passive management to active intervention (Great Barrier Reef Blueprint for resilience by GBRMPA). These active interventions, potentially able to increase GBR resilience, as there are reefs that, due to their physical location relative to all other reefs, river and estuary entrances, ocean currents, have favourable coral growth conditions. To undertake such interventions, various information is required including tropical cyclone wave climates. This paper develops tropical cyclone wave climates for the entire GBR. These wave climates were developed by simulating several thousand synthetic cyclones derived from the “HadGEM” general circulation model with RCP8.5 climate change scenario. The synthetic cyclones adopted herein include the following climate changes assessed by comparing averages of key forcing parameters between 1950 to 1999 and 2050 to 2099. Their average arrival rate increases from 2.25 to 2.41 cyclones/year and their average maximum wind speed increases from 24 to 28 m/s. Their average radius to maximum winds remains constant at 51 km. Two key challenges were resolved, namely, long runtimes and large files (600 m grid increment covering 1800 km by 280 km). Runtimes were reduced by excluding cyclones where their wind speeds over the entire event never exceeded 10 m/s within GBR itself or within 100 km of the GBR over water. Maximum wave heights were compared with an extended fetch empirical expression, which was based on satellite data of tropical cyclones in open waters, when cyclones were outside the GBR lagoon. These comparisons indicate that predicted wave heights have a lower bias using default wave generation parameters when compared with the extended fetch empirical expression. Prediction uncertainty was estimated at no more than 10% from various cyclonic wind-field models. The existing GBR reefs reduce nearshore wave or runup height by between 1.5 and 2 times compared to the no reef case. The reduction in wave or runup height was found to be minimal for 1 m sea level rise. These two findings indicate that there is more flooding potential from coral removal than SLR within the GBR lagoon.

Corrigendum to: Conservation Criminology: Modelling Offender Target Selection for Illegal Fishing in Marine Protected Areas

This is a correction to: The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 59, Issue 6, November 2019, Pages 1455–1477, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azz020 Corrections were made to this article to expand and clarify the acronym for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA).

Who trusts whom in the Great Barrier Reef? Exploring trust and communication in natural resource management

Trust is an important element of social capital that is increasingly recognized as integral to effective natural resource management, yet the concept remains relatively unexplored in the environmental social sciences. In large, complex resource systems where numerous and diverse stakeholders receive information from a variety of sources, managers must make efficient use of limited financial and human resources by communicating effectively with the public and targeting engagement efforts to build trust where needed. Using Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) as a case study, we investigated to what degree stakeholders trust reef-related information from five sources: research institutions, non-government organizations (NGOs), the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), industry groups, and friends, family and coworkers. Additionally, we explored whether trust is demographically differentiated among resource users (n = 2985), considering four demographic variables: age, gender, residential location (north, central, and south), and stakeholder group (tourism operators, commercial fishers, indigenous residents, and non-indigenous residents). Overall, research institutions were the most trusted source of information, followed by friends, family, and coworkers, NGOs, the GBRMPA, and industry groups. Trust did not differ with gender, and was negatively related to age for all sources of information except friends, family and coworkers. Stakeholders living in the northern GBR region were less trusting of research institutions compared to those living in the central and southern regions. Finally, for most information sources, trust was differentiated across stakeholder groups, with commercial fishers reporting the lowest levels of trust in the GBRMPA, research institutions, and non-government organizations. In demonstrating the heterogeneous nature of trust in the GBR, this study presents a necessary first step towards developing targeted strategies to build trust, improve communication, and promote stewardship in a large, complex natural resource system.

Developing a long-term outlook for the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: A framework for adaptive management reporting underpinning an ecosystem-based management approach

The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 was the first produced in response to a newly legislated requirement for five-yearly reports on the status of and outlook for the Great Barrier Reef. It adopted an ecosystem approach, assessing all habitats and species, ecosystem processes and major uses. By then considering the factors affecting the ecosystem, coupled with an assessment of management effectiveness, it provided a risk-based forward-looking projection for the ecosystem. Rarely has such a comprehensive, ecosystem-based report been produced to guide government action. With no pre-determined path to follow for interpreting the legislative requirements, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) developed a repeatable structure and method for Great Barrier Reef Outlook Reports that impartially and consistently considers the evidence and clearly presents the findings. The GBRMPA worked closely with relevant Australian and Queensland Government agencies as well as researchers, industry representatives and the community while developing the report. That such a report must be produced every five years allows an overview of the effectiveness of management responses to be regularly assessed. It also provides a transparent means of highlighting and tracking emerging risks facing the Great Barrier Reef.

A process to design a network of marine no-take areas: Lessons from the Great Barrier Reef

In the absence of consensus on the quantity and level of zoning protection required for coral reef and lagoon ecosystems, which process can guide decision makers? The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) worked with experts in a collaborative process to develop a set of Biophysical Operational Principles to guide the design of a network of no-take areas. First, 82 expert scientists were asked to provide data and advice on the physical, biological and ecological dimensions of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. They recommended that an independent Scientific Steering Committee (the Committee) was set up. How this Committee worked successfully with the GBRMPA staff is detailed here in a manner to enable other resource managers to adopt the process if they are working in data-limited marine environments.

Responding to Stakeholder Research needs using a visitor Monitoring Survey: The case of the Great Barrier Reef Tourism Industry

Marketed internationally as an iconic tourism experience, Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) faces a range of issues similar to those faced by coral reefs in other parts of the world. According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GRBMPA), the management body responsible for the reef, 1.9 million tourists visit the reef annually, using marine tour operators that offer a wide range of tour products. Management of the tourism industry is based on a zoning system that requires natural and social science input. Data on visitor experiences and satisfaction have been collected in the past by CRC Reef Research, and more recently by a new long-term reporting system of reef tourist visitation supported by the Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) funded by the Australian Federal Government. The sustainability of this industry is influenced by a range of natural (climate change, crown-of'thorns, etc.) and social (rising cost of fuel, changing travel patters, emerging markets) issues. These issues are reviewed followed by analysis of the reef tourism experience within this natural and social context. Data used in this analysis were drawn from a visitor monitoring survey that is discussed in this article. The monitoring program was designed to collect data that can be compared on a monthly and annual basis to enable comparison over time with the aim of identifying emerging social and environmental issues and threats to determine their effect on the sustainability of reef tourism. Finally, the article identifies a number of solutions and strategies that may be available to tourism operators.

Remote sensing of sea surface temperatures during 2002 Barrier Reef coral bleaching

Early in 2002, satellites of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected anomalously high sea surface temperatures (SST) developing in the western Coral Sea, midway along Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR). This was the beginning of what was to become the most significant GBR coral bleaching event on record [Wilkinson, 2002]. During this time, NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provided satellite data as part of ongoing collaborative work on coral reef health with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). These data proved invaluable to AIMS and GBRMPA as they monitored and assessed the development and evolution of SSTs throughout the austral summer, enabling them to keep stakeholders, government, and the general public informed and up to date.

Community and connectivity: summary of a community based monitoring program set up to assess the movement of nutrients and sediments into the Great Barrier Reef during high flow events

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) system encompasses the largest system of corals and related life forms anywhere in the world. The health of this extensive system, particularly the inshore area, is dependent on the relationship between the GBR and adjacent coastal catchments. The major impact of agricultural practices on the GBR is the degradation of water quality in receiving (rivers) waters, caused by increased inputs of nutrients, suspended sediments and other pollutants. For the past three years, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has been involved with the co-ordination of a river-monitoring program, specifically targeting the sampling of rivers during flood events. Representative sites were set up along two North Queensland rivers, the Russell-Mulgrave and Barron Rivers. This monitoring program is run in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Natural Resources' Waterwatch program. The program involves intensive sampling of first flush, extreme flow and post flood conditions over the two rivers. Extreme flow conditions are sampled over a limited time span (48 hours) with trained volunteers at 4-hour intervals. Concentrations measured in the flood events are dependent on land use characteristic, and extent of flow. Concentrations of dissolved and particulate nutrients are higher if the extreme flow event is part of the first flush cycle. Concentrations of DIN and DIP measured before, during and after a major flood event suggest that there is a large storage of inorganic material within the Barron and Russell-Mulgrave agricultural subcatchments that move over a period of days, and perhaps weeks. This program created a forum in which GBRMPA liased with the Barron and Russell-Mulgrave community about the connectivity existing between the river and the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

Monitoring Diffuse Impacts: Australian Tourism Developments.

/ The scientific quality of monitoring for diffuse environmental impacts has rarely been quantified. This paper presents an analysis of all formal environmental monitoring programs for Australian tourism developments over a 15-year period from 1980 to 1995. The tourism sector provides a good test bed for this study because tourism developments are (1) often adjacent to or even within conservation reserves and other relatively undisturbed natural environments, and (2) often clustered, with resulting cumulative impacts that require detection at an early stage. Here we analyze the precision and reliability with which monitoring programs as actually implemented can detect diffuse environmental impacts against natural variation. Of 175 Australian tourism developments subject to EIA from 1980 to 1993 inclusive, only 13 were subject to formal monitoring. Only 44 individual parameters, in total, were monitored for all these developments together. No baseline monitoring was conducted for nine of the 44 parameters. For the remaining 35, only one was monitored for a full year. Before, after, control, impact, paired sampling (BACIP) monitoring designs were used for 24 of the 44 parameters, and power analysis in 10. The scientific quality of monitoring was significantly better for developments subject to control by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). The key factor appears to be the way in which GBRMPA uses external referees and manages external consultants. The GBRMPA model merits wider adoption.

ENCORE: The effect of nutrient enrichment on coral reefs. 1. Experimental design and research programme

An in situ reef fertilization experiment is being undertaken on the Australian Great Barrier Reef, to investigate the response of coral reefs to nutrient enrichment. This experiment, known as ENCORE, is designed to quantify the fate of nitrogen and phosphorus within a coral reef, and compare their impact on a variety of coral reef organisms. Co-ordinated by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), 30 scientists from eight Australian and three overseas organizations are undertaking research encompassing cellular through to community level responses. This research will provide a scientific basis for developing appropriate water quality management strategies in coral reef environments, and may identify a number of sub-lethal indicators of nutrient stress.

Remote sensing for planning and managing the great barrier reef of Australia

The CSIRO Division of Water and Land Resources has cooperated with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Australian Survey Office (ASO) to establish comprehensive remote sensing based reef mapping procedures. The research established the potential benefits of remotely sensed data to planning and managing the GBR Marine Park as well as methods of analysis specific to the applied problems of reef top mapping. The ASO has completed a full scale mapping program (involving some 24 Landsat scenes) based on this research and development in the GBR Region. The products consist of rectified Landsat imagery at 1:250 000 and 1:100 000 scales and standard thematic products which indicate approximate bathymetry, reef geomorphological and cover zones and reef environmental parameters such as exposure to weather.