Pitcher et al., 2007

"The protection indicators estimated for ~840 seabed species showed that prior to the RAP re-zoning, 160 of the species analysed had <20% of their predicted biomass in zones with higher protection, whereas after the re-zoning all species analysed had >20% of their predicted biomass in zones with higher protection; the average increase in protection over all species analysed was 29%. An additional 10 species not covered by sled & trawl data were provided by the BRUVS and, prior to RAP, five of these 10 species had <20% of their predicted occurrence in zones with higher levels of protection, whereas post RAP, all of these species had >20% in zones with higher levels of protection; the average increase in protection was 31%. 

The protection indicators estimated for the 38 species-groups showed that prior to RAP, 10 of these species-groups had <20% of their predicted biomass in zones with higher levels of protection, whereas post RAP all groups had >20% of their biomass in zones with higher levels of protection; the average increase in protection was 27%.  The protection indicators estimated for the 16 seabed species-assemblages showed that prior to RAP, 7 of these assemblages had <20% of their predicted area in zones with higher levels of protection, whereas post RAP, all of these assemblages had >20% of their area in zones with higher levels of protection; the average increase in protection was 36%.

The protection indicators estimated for the 9 broad seabed biological habitat types showed that prior to RAP, 4 of habitat types had <20% of their predicted area in zones with higher levels of protection, whereas post RAP one of these habitat types had 20% of area in zones with higher levels of protection and all others had >20%; the average increase in protection was 31%.

While there are uncertainties in these estimates of protection level indicators, the underlying data set is the most extensive and detailed available and the estimates are likely to be robust at the scale of the entire continental shelf in the GBR region. From these indicators, it appears clear that the 20% protection level target of the RAP re-zoning has been achieved for all aspects of seabed biodiversity analysed: seabed species, seabed assemblages, and seabed habitats."

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Citation and/or URL

Pitcher, C.R., Venables, B., Browne, M., Doherty, P. & De'ath, G. 2007, Indicators of protection levels for seabed habitats, species and assemblages on the continental shelf of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area: unpublished report to the Marine and Tropical Science Research Facility, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre on behalf of the Australian Government’s Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility, Cairns

Spatial Coverage

All soft seabed of Marine Park excluding continental slope.

Temporal Coverage

 Once-off

Update Frequency

 Not applicable 

Other Information

None