Management Concern: High    

Adequacy of Information: Moderate

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• The Great Barrier Reef is maintaining seagrass biodiversity with local fluctuations in inshore waters.
• Observations suggest that there have been shifts in species composition in some seagrass beds, but do not indicate any Reef-wide changes.
• Herbicides can affect the health of plants in the marine environment and thus affect the levels of primary production in the ecosystem.
• Seagrasses are sensitive to increasing temperatures and extreme weather events.
• Seagrass meadows are habitat constructors and provide nursery areas for juvenile prawns, fishes, crabs and marine crayfish, all of which are important to commercial and recreational fisheries.
• Seagrass habitat has been lost through land reclamation. Seagrass meadows are sensitive to sediments from flood events. They are also sensitive to nutrient inputs.
• Most routine shipping activities have negligible consequences. Dredging and construction of port facilities can have significant, but localised impacts.
• Increasing coastal development is resulting in the loss of both coastal habitats that support the Great Barrier Reef and connectivity between habitats.

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online:

• Global distribution of coral, mangrove and seagrass diversity 
• Diversity and distribution of shallow seagrass beds in the Great Barrier Reef
• Trends in seagrass distribution in the Great Barrier Reef
• Responses of seagrass to nutrients in the Great Barrier Reef 
• Composition and distribution of flood plumes in the Great Barrier Reef
• Distribution of deep water seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Resilience of seagrass beds
• Deepwater seagrasses in northeastern Australia - how deep, how meaningful?
• Seagrass as nursery for fish and prawn species 
• Marine Monitoring Program - Seagrass 
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems
• Vulnerability of seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change
• Sea level rise
• An atlas of tropical cyclones in the Great Barrier Reef 1969-1997 
• Sea surface temperature
• Shipping voyages in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Shipping incidents in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Major shipping incidents in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Great Barrier Reef oil spill risk and equipment 
• The 2006 Gladstone oil spill: environmental impacts 
• Dredging at the Port of Hay Point

Existing policies and management actions

• Water Quality Guidelines for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Regional water quality improvement plans
• State Coastal Management Plan 2002 
• Coastal Ecosystem Management Position Paper
• Seagrass Watch 
• Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program
• Improving water quality
• Coastal ecosystem protection
• Australian Government policy on climate change 
• Queensland Government climate change policies and strategies 
• Climate Change Action Plan 2007-2012
• Fisheries: legislative management arrangements
• Fisheries: other management tools
• Fisheries: information systems 
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
• Queensland Fisheries Strategy 2009-2014 
• Queensland Fisheries policies and legislation 
• Queensland Fisheries monitoring 
• Queensland Management of Commercial Fisheries 
• Queensland Management of Recreational Fisheries 
• Plans of Management
• Environmental impact assessment
• 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

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