Maintaining Ecosystem Quality
(Program C)

Program Leader: Dr Peter Doherty, Australian Institute of Marine Science

The objective of this program is to generate critical information, relevant products and useful advice that will assist users, interested members of the Australian public, industry operators, and natural resource managers to know the status and trends of marine ecosystems within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), through development of benchmarks and performance indicators.

Public debate and policy development for use and protection of the GBRWHA should be well informed about the status and trends of ecosystems. However, there are few historical benchmarks against which to measure change and few agreed performance indicators of system health. Detecting anthropogenic impact in this situation is also challenging because it takes place in a highly variable natural environment. Besides the potential for local impacts in the ocean, coastal marine ecosystems are affected by land-based pollution and global weather patterns.

This program is a balanced package of mapping, monitoring and strategic process-oriented research that aims to establish benchmarks and performance indicators to anchor public debate on the status of the GBRWHA. It will also give early warning of any systematic trends in status and condition in this large and complex ecosystem.

For a list of tasks associated with this program, click here.