Great Barrier Reef

Program 8 has three inter-linked projects that will test the effectiveness of spatial management arrangements (differential use zones) for conserving exploited fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. One project will compare the abundance of fish, corals, and the incidence of coral disease between fringing reefs in the coastal zone that have been closed to fishing at different times in the past with adjacent areas that remain in use by the recreational fishing sector.

Program 6 will have three projects designed to monitor the movements of apex predators in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park using widespread arrays of acoustic receivers installed and maintained by other funding programs (e.g. IMOS, ARC). One project will focus on the movement and habitat use of large predatory fishes (e.g. sharks and coral trout) in reef environments. New knowledge about the scale of daily and seasonal movements will establish a minimum viable size for no-take areas to offer effective protection to these mobile animals.

Program 4 will have three projects assessing risks to biodiversity from current water quality in the inshore Great Barrier Reef and a desktop hazard study for water quality outlook in the Torres Strait.

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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