The recent rezoning in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia has produced a wealth of information of interest to other MPA planners/managers.  Much of this information is available on the web, although some aspects are still being written up.

The new zoning network now includes ‘no-take’ areas covering 114,530 sq km (equivalent in size to an area bigger than Guatemala), or one-third of the multiple use Marine Park. 

A general index webpage for the new zoning is available.

• General Aspects of Zoning
• Statutory Documents
• Public Involvement
• Socio-economic Evaluations
• Regulatory Impact Statement
• Structural Adjustment
• Implementation Products

General Aspects of Zoning

Aspects of the zoning which may be of interest include:

• Total Area of Zone Types and equivalent IUCN categories
• A 2-page poster outlining the entire RAP process (Note this PDF is large and may take time to download),
• The map of 70 bioregions (30 reef bioregions and 40 non-reef bioregions); this was one of the ‘cornerstones’ of the RAP process when used in conjunction with all the operating principles:
• The eleven Biophysical Operating Principles applied when developing the zoning:
• The four Social, Economic, and Cultural Operating Principles applied when developing the zoning:
• Frequently asked questions about the new zoning (eg How will the new zoning be enforced?  Can I carry fish through a green zone?)
• A poster showing ‘connectivity’ and an example of the dependence by one species (Red Emperor) on different habitat types; this poster was immensely useful when engaging the public;
• The RAP planning process used a variety of analytical planning tools including ‘MARXAN’, ReST and TRADER (Australian Institute of Marine Science, Dr Glenn De’ath). These helped to apply the key operating principles, and in conjunction with other GIS-based spatial analysis tools, were vital to the systematic integration of biophysical, social and economic values.
• See various History and Background publications/papers for the the lessons learnt
  • See paper ‘Use of spatial analysis and GIS’ for an outline of the spatial tools used;
  • See paper 'An ecosystem planning approach' (espec. pp.10-12) for lessons learnt about use of analytical approaches.

Statutory Documents

• The statutory (legislative) Zoning Plan – includes the provisions for each of the 8 types of zone (ranging from General Use Zone where all reasonable activities can occur, including trawling and other types of fishing; through to Marine National Park Zone (= ‘no-take’ areas) and to Preservation Zones (= no-go areas).  For each zone, there is a clear objective and a list of what activities can be done ‘as of right’ (without a permit); and what will require a permit.  (note this PDF version does not include the 160 pages of zone boundary descriptions)
• The Zoning Plan also has provisions for Special Management Areas (eg Dugong Protection Areas, Public Appreciation Areas, etc) and Designated Shipping Areas – see Part 4 of the above Zoning Plan for detailed provisions.
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations- these include many legal definitions of activities (eg limited collecting; limited research; stowed & secured; etc); criteria for the assessment of all permits; user fees, etc.

Public Involvement

The RAP included the most comprehensive program of community involvement and participatory planning for any environmental issue in Australia’s history; included two statutory phases of public consultation and a huge amount of ongoing public education:

• A series of technical information sheets released in May 2002 helped educate the public about the reasons behind RAP and key aspects of the planning program;
•  The Draft Zoning Plan publicly released in June 2003;
•  The revised Zoning Plan delivered to the Federal Parliament in December 2003;
• Periodic RAP update brochures were distributed throughout the planning program;
• See various History and Background publications/papers for the public participation process and the lessons learnt:
  • See paper ‘Addressing communication barriers’ for an outline of the public participation program and some of the ways around ‘the barriers’;
  • See paper ‘An ecosystem planning approach’ (espec. pp.7-10) and new planning experiences for lessons learnt about public participation;
  • See paper ‘Managing, Analysing and Presenting Public Submissions’ for an outline of the processes developed to deal with 31,500 public submissions.

Socio-economic Evaluations

The primary aim of RAP was to increase the protection of biodiversity, but a further aim was to minimise impacts on the existing users of the Marine Park, including commercial and recreational fishers.  Three detailed reports and a summary report were prepared and presented to Parliament:

• An independent consultant (PDP Australia P/L) conducted an evaluation of the economic & social evaluation of implementing the RAP
• The Bureau of Tourism report assessed the potential impact of RAP on tourism
• The Bureau of Rural Sciences report assessed the potential impact on commercial fishing and associated communities
• Summary Report drawing on the information in the above 3 reports

Regulatory Impact Statement

As with any proposed legislation presented to the Federal Parliament, a Regulatory Impact Statement was required to address options, outline the affected parties resulting from the revised Zoning Plan, etc; this RIS was publicly available when the Parliament was assessing the Plan.

Structural Adjustment

The Australian Government’s commitment to structural adjustment (e.g. assistance to address those who were significantly impacted by the new Zoning Plan) was of both social and environmental importance, and contributed to increased community acceptance of the negative impacts due to the rezoning.

Implementation Products

Since the new Zoning Plan formally came into effect (1 July 2004), the implementation tasks have included wide dissemination of the new zoning information. Over 620,000 new zoning maps have been distributed free of charge from over 200 Community Access Points along the entire GBR coast (incl. bait & tackle shops, boating suppliers, Government offices, etc).

All products are also available on the web, including a guide to the zones and activities:

• Zoning maps showing the new zones are at
  • Introductory maps (four maps at 1:1 million scale)
  • Detailed maps (18 maps at 1:250,000) including MNPZ zone coordinates
• For interactive (‘zoomable’) maps and the ability to generate coordinates for a specific zone:
• All zone coordinates (using each zone’s unique identifier number) are available on the web in an Excel spreadsheet. Electronic zoning information has been provided to commercial suppliers of electronic charts such as Magellan, C-map, C-plot, Garmin and the Hydrographic Survey, Australia, and was commercially available from the date the new zoning came into effect.
• A poster to clarify definition of ‘one hook’ for limited fishing (Yellow) zones is also available.