By Rich Bowden:

Marine sanctuaries should be considered an “important tool” in marine resource management and used as part of an integrated approach to marine planning and implementation, a Western Australian Department of the Environment report has stated.

The study, “Report on the Scientific Basis for and the Role of Marine Sanctuaries in Marine Planning,” commissioned by the state’s Minister for the Environment and written by independent scientists, makes strong recommendations to the effect that marine sanctuaries were an important management tool in preserving marine species.

Describing sanctuaries as a “…valuable tools for ecosystem based fisheries management,” the report argues the sanctuaries had widespread conservation benefits.

“Conservation benefits for fisheries are mainly evident through the increased abundance and size of previously targeted species of fish and invertebrates within the boundaries of the marine sanctuaries,” it said.

However the report warned that while fisheries management objectives could be helped by marine sanctuaries, stringent planning and management needed to be undertaken.

In summary, marine sanctuaries, together with other fisheries management tools, may help achieve broad fisheries and biodiversity objectives, but their use requires careful planning and evaluation. To minimise the loss of yield to fisheries and to achieve the desired conservation benefits, sanctuaries need to be evaluated in the context of:
1.
clear biodiversity, ecosystem and fisheries objectives;
2.
the social and institutional ability to maintain and enforce the closures,
3.
existing fisheries management actions that marine sanctuaries could complement under certain conditions, and
4.
the ability to monitor and evaluate success.

Conservation Council of Western Australia marine spokesperson Tim Nicol said the report was a breakthrough for marine management.

“With this new evidence, the State Government no longer has any excuse not to create large new marine sanctuaries in WA’s southwest and at Camden Sound,” he said in a April 23 Conservation Council statement.

The Conservation Council has called on the State Government to urgently begin protecting marine species through the use of marine sanctuaries.

“Currently less than 1% of WA’s marine environment is protected; this report paves the way for immediate action towards a network of large marine sanctuaries for WA. The report highlights the very strong evidence of benefits from marine sanctuaries for marine life, and the likely benefits to our ailing fisheries.”

“A network of large marine sanctuaries will allow our marine life to survive and thrive again. We may then once again see the abundance of large fish that our grandparents took for granted,” said Nicol.

Full report is available from the Deapartment’s website here.

Tags: conservation council of wa, fisheries wa, marine sanctuary, wa dept of the environment, wa marine sanctuaries