Marine Species

Project 2.1 will use monitoring, genetics, state-of-the-art tracking and remote sensing to develop, (a) an understanding of the status of marine turtles, (b) a detailed understanding of turtle and dugong spatial ecology, plus the threats to these populations, and (c) dugong population assessments. The project will both improve stakeholder understanding, capacity and skills to better manage priority species and provide valuable data that is useable and understandable to those making decisions regarding turtle and dugongs.

Coral reefs are showing evidence of decline on local, regional and global scales. Historical overfishing, nutrient loading and terrestrial discharge, combined with more recent threats of global warming, coral bleaching, ocean acidification and disease have resulted in long-term losses of abundance, diversity and habitat structure. Since European settlement of the Queensland coastline in the mid-19th century, extensive land use changes in the GBR catchment region have occurred resulting from grazing, agriculture and land clearance.

Marine wildlife are significant components of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area’s biodiversity and are threatened by a variety of anthropogenic pressures. In particular, populations of inshore dolphins are very small and at risk, there are serious concerns for dugong populations along the urban coast (south of Cooktown) and marine turtles are listed as threatened species and are at risk along the Queensland coast due to coastal change.

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