Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Moderate

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• Beaches are an important part of the coastal zone, especially as nesting grounds for seabirds and marine turtles. They also have an important recreational role for visitors to the Great Barrier Reef.
  
• Beaches are highly dynamic habitats with natural cycles of erosion and accretion driven by winds, tides, waves and storms.  They are therefore sensitive to any changes in coastal water movement, including climate change impacts such as increased sea level and weather variability.
  
• In some areas, changes in coastal dynamics (for example through the installation of groins and seawalls) and reclaiming of marine areas have altered the beach habitats of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Increasing coastal development is resulting in the loss of both coastal habitats that support the Great Barrier Reef and connectivity between habitats.
• Most of the routine defence training activities carried out in the Great Barrier Reef have negligible impacts. Individual high impact activities are carefully managed and confined to specific localised areas, and limited to a few weeks per year.

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Beaches and tidal flats
  
• Coastal erosion
  
• Coastal processes
  
• Sea level rise
  
• Climate variations influence the shape of cays and islands on the Great Barrier Reef
• Vulnerability of coastal and estuarine habitats in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change
• Impact of beach lighting on flatback turtle nesting
• Impacts of artificial lighting on sea turtle survival
• Impact of development on nesting beaches at Mackay
• Disturbance of shorebird roosting caused by development 
• Tourism Australia statistics
  
• Trends in tourist visitor numbers
• Impacts of tourism and recreational use on the Great Barrier Reef
• Tourism impacts on seabirds
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems

Existing policies and management actions

• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
• Environmental Impact Assessment
  
• Plans of Management 
• Coastal ecosystem protection
• State Coastal Management Plan 2002
  
• Coastal Ecosystem Management Position Paper
• Australian Government policy on climate change 
• Queensland Government climate change policies and strategies 
• Climate Change Action Plan 2007-2012
• Policies and guidelines for managing tourism and recreational use
• Responsible Reef Practices
  
• Mon Repos turtle watching 
• National codes of conduct for turtle and dugong tourism
• Memorandum of Understanding between GBRMPA and Queensland Ports [1.34MB]
  
• Cruise Shipping Policy for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park [113KB]
  
• Dredging and Spoil Disposal Policy [525KB]
  
• Environmental Impact Management Policy [900KB]

Future management requirements

• Draft Queensland Coastal Management Plan
  
• Biodiversity strategy
• Planned review of the Dredging and Spoil Disposal policy
• Overarching Great Barrier Reef Tourism Strategy
• Great Barrier Reef Recreation Strategy

Defined research questions

• There are currently no defined research questions for this topic. Research questions will be developed, giving priority to interactions/issues that are of most concern to management.

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring