Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Good

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• Coral reef habitats are likely to be declining, more so in inshore areas, but the trends are difficult to interpret.
• Available evidence indicates that the overall status of coral reefs on the GBR is relatively good, but is likely to be declining slightly, especially in inshore areas.  However, the picture is not simple or clear cut, with reefs in different regions showing enormous differences in trends, including both increases and declines. This is because coral reefs are naturally dynamic habitats, with cycles of disturbance and recovery. The challenge is to detect whether there are long-term trends hidden within natural cycles.
• There is limited information about many  targeted species and of the survival success of discarded species resulting in a poor understanding of the broad scale and cumulative ecosystem effects of fishing.
• Illegal fishing is a threat to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. Incidents detected include incursion of foreign fishing vessels, fishing in zones closed to fishing, and use of fishing equipment or methods in zones where they are not permitted.
• Further information is needed on the resilience of coral reef habitats and cumulative impacts of climate change and commercial and non-commercial use.

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online:

• Confronting the coral reef crisis
  
• Australian Institute of Marine Science - surveys of sessile benthic communities
  
• Coral cover estimates during broadscale surveys using manta tow
  
• Trend in GBR hard coral cover from the AIMS Long Term Monitoring Program
  
• Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Inshore Reef Monitoring: hard coral, soft coral and algal cover
  
• Status of coral reefs of the world 2008
  
• Effects of line fishing on the Great Barrier Reef
  
• Fishing catch from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
• East coast fin fish fishery independent review
   

Existing policies and management actions

• Marine Park legislation and regulations
  
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 – Ecological assessments
  
• Accreditation (with conditions) of the export component of the commercial coral harvest fishery under national sustainability guidelines
  
• Queensland Policy for the Management of the Coral Fishery
  
• Guidelines for the Management of Artificial Reefs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
• Regional Plans of Management, including Reef Protection Markers and moorings
  
• Permit conditions for specific activities
  
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
  
• Fisheries: legislative management arrangements
• Fisheries: other management tools
• Fisheries: information systems 
• Queensland Fisheries Strategy 2009-2014 
• Queensland Fisheries policies and legislation
  
• Queensland Fisheries monitoring 
• Queensland Management of Commercial Fisheries
  
• Queensland Management of Recreational Fisheries 

Future management requirements

• Biodiversity 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