Outlook Online 2009

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority :: Developing the Draft Zoning Plan

Developing the Draft Zoning Plan

Identifying options for a network of no-take areas

A combination of the information provided in the submissions, stakeholder advice or involvement, and analytical approaches was collectively used to identify options for no-take areas. The analytical approaches comprised marine reserve design software including Marxan, adapted for use in the Representative Areas Program, and a suite of GIS-based spatial analysis tools. The analytical software enabled the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) to integrate a number of data layers representing biophysical, social, cultural and economic values, and enabled a number of options to be generated and assessed (for example, to what extent did a ‘candidate’ area meet the biophysical operating principles, and how much did it impact on the known socio-economic values in the available data layers).

Developing the Draft Zoning Plan (late 2002 - mid 2003)

Areas selected to be new no-take zones aimed to maximise the protection of the range of biodiversity while minimising negative social, economic or cultural impacts on Great Barrier Reef Marine Park users and stakeholders. Similarly, the placement of the other multiple use zone types aimed to do the same. Using information from the submissions and a range of other data sources, the GBRMPA developed a Draft Zoning Plan and addressed several other tasks:

  • Zoning, for the first time, the new coastal sections
  • Ensuring consistency of zoning provisions throughout the Marine Park
  • Implemented coordinate-based descriptions for zone boundaries.

Key publications

Related publications

Technical Information Sheets

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