PROJECT 2.5: ENDANGERED SPECIES INTERACTIONS
(Prof H Marsh JCU)
The rationale for the World Heritage Listing of the Great Barrier Reef
region includes its international importance as a feeding and breeding
ground for sea birds and for endangered species such as dugongs and sea
turtles. This Project aims to improve the sustainability of the interactions
between these species and users of the region, especially tourists and
fishermen.
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Dugong numbers have declined and urgent research is required into
the best means of protecting them.
Photo courtesy GBRMPA.
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Aerial surveys have documented a serious decline in dugong numbers south
of Cooktown over the last decade. This decline has been partially attributed
to dugongs drowning accidentally in gill-nets used by commercial fishers
to catch valuable fish such as barramundi. To provide a sound ecological
basis for measures to reduce dugong mortality, information on their distribution
from the aerial surveys is being combined with data on gill-netting collected
by the QFMA's log-book program in a GIS environment to identify areas
where the risk of dugongs drowning in nets is high.
In addition, satellite transmitters have been attached to seven dugongs
caught from Shoalwater Bay, one of the high risk areas, to track their
movements and to determine their potential overlap with gill-netting activities.
The tagged animals not only use the creeks where river set nets operate
but have been much more mobile than expected. Two animals moved more than
400 km south to Hervey Bay outside the southern boundary of the marine
park confirming that dugong management strategies will have to be coordinated
over large spatial scales and across jurisdictional boundaries.
Most research to investigate the impact of tourists' recreational use
on sea bird rookeries has approached the problem by monitoring numbers
of birds at breeding rookeries already visited. It is impossible to separate
the impact of tourists from other factors affecting the numbers of birds
at these sites with this approach. To overcome this problem, sea birds
are being studied at a remote island in the northern Great Barrier Reef
which is not visited by tourists. Baseline information is being obtained
on the nesting biology of the birds in preparation for experiments to
monitor the birds' responses to simulated tourist activities.
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