Technical Information Sheet #20

Published 2002

This page contains background and history of the Representative Areas Program.

• View current Zoning information.

Dugong Management Areas in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

This information sheet outlines the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s (GBRMPA) approach to Dugong Management Areas and the zone placement guidelines for Dugong Management Areas as proposed in the Draft Zoning Plan for the GBRMP.

Currently, only the Gumoo Woojabuddee Section Zoning Plan contains a designated area specifically for dugong management. In that Zoning Plan, ‘the objective of the designated Dugong Management Area is to restrict activities that pose a threat to dugongs’. (Gumoo ‘Basis for Zoning’, GBRMPA 2002).

Dugong Protected Areas (DPAs) are recognised as being areas of significant dugong habitat. The effective conservation of dugongs requires the protection of key habitats, including feeding and calving areas and migratory pathways.   DPAs are designated under Queensland legislation   and have no complementary provisions under the GBRMP Act 1975.

Proposed Management Framework

As part of the Representative Areas Program, each of the DPAs in the Marine Park were reviewed for adequacy of zoning to provide appropriate protection against specific threats to dugong. In particular, consideration was given to protection of sea grass beds.  Commercial netting restrictions already in place under the Queensland Fisheries Regulations 1995 reflect decisions from the Great Barrier Reef Ministerial Council. In several of the DPAs, the Draft Zoning Plan will provide greater conservation by proposing parts of them as Habitat Protection (Dark blue), Conservation Park (Yellow) or Marine National Park (Green) Zones.

The GBRMPA is also proposing to amend the Dugong Management Area within the Gumoo Woojabuddee Section Zoning Plan and redefine its boundaries and objectives as a Species Conservation Special Management Areas (see also ‘Special Management Areas’ Information Sheet).

Special Management Areas – Species Conservation

To ensure consistency in approaches for dugong conservation, the GBRMPA intends to reflect the exisiting Queensland legislation for DPAs at locations where the proposed zoning allows for commercial netting to continue. The GBRMPA plans to accomplish this by designating the existing DPAs as Special Management Areas, for species conservation purposes, and mirroring Queensland legislation for these areas in the GBRMP Regulations (see the information sheet on ‘Special Management Areas’ for more information).

The planned areas for designation as Special Management Areas are:

Zone ’A’ DPAs

• Port Clinton (Reef Point–Cape Clinton)
• Shoalwater Bay
• Ince Bay (Cape Palmerston–Allom Point)
• Stewart Peninsula–Newry Islands–Ball Bay
• Upstart Bay 
• Cleveland Bay–Magnetic Island
• Hinchinbrook Island area

Zone ’B ’DPAs

• Port of Gladstone–Rodds Bay
• Clairview Bluff–Carmilla Creek
• Llewellyn Bay
• Ball Bay–Sand Bay
• Repulse Bay
• Edgecumbe Bay–Bowen
• Bowling Green Bay
• Lucinda to Allingham–Halifax Bay

Special Management Areas - Princess Charlotte Bay

Princess Charlotte Bay (PCB) is currently zoned as Conservation Park (Yellow) Zone in the Far Northern Section Zoning Plan to provide for the protection of dugong.  The Far Northern Section Zoning Plan intended to provide for permits to be granted for commercial netting in PCB, subject to the limitations in the GBRMP Regulations.  However, the proposed Princess Charlotte Bay Regulations were disallowed by the Senate in April 2002 and accordingly there is no process in place for the granting of commercial netting permits in PCB.

The Draft Zoning Plan proposes to zone part of PCB as Marine National Park (Green) Zone, with the remainder of PCB (including Bathurst Head) to be zoned Habitat Protection (Dark blue) Zone with a special management area to restrict commercial netting.   The Princess Charlotte Bay Special Management Area will require commercial net fishers with a demonstrated history of, and reliance on, the area to apply for a GBRMPA permit to operate in PCB.