Pilbara Marine Conservation
Partnership (PMCP)
Managing the conservation values of coral reef
ecosystems in the Pilbara/Ningaloo region
CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship
and
The University of Western Australia
Presented by Shaun P. Collin
Team Leaders
CSIRO
UWA
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Shaun P. Collin
Gary Kendrick
Malcolm McCulloch
Euan Harvey
Anya Waite
Ryan Lowe
Jim Falter
Timothy Langlois
Carlos Duarte
Greg Ivey
DEC
• Kim Friedman
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Russ Babcock
Ming Feng
Mat Vanderklift
Olly Berry
Damian Thompson
Dirk Slawninski
Roland Pitcher
Mick Haywood
Richard Pillans
Dept. of Fisheries
• Steve Newman
Background
• Project designed by CSIRO and UWA and carried out in
partnership to address the need for conservation
offsets in the Southern Pilbara / Northern Gascoyne
Region of WA
• The initial five year program, established through the
Gorgon Net Conservation Benefits offset scheme
• Project harnesses collective expertise of UWA and
CSIRO on a large, long term scale to provide evidencebased decisions and integrated solutions
Aims
• Regional scale assessment of key ecological
parameters
• Development of baselines, indicators and thresholds
to instruct future management strategies
• Better understanding of the condition and threats
to biodiversity in one of Australia’s most rapidly
developing regions
• Integrated program to enhance net conservation
benefits to globally significant coral reef systems
Scope
Development
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Linking inshore archipelago to DEC Marine
Park Estate within the 50m bathymetry line
Filling a major information gap in region
Regional Net
Conservation Benefits
Condition
Pressure
Response
benchmarks, impacts
(Partnerships with
DEC, DoF, EPA)
Coral Reef
Habitats
KPI
Threshold
Corals
Natural and Anthropogenic
Environmental Drivers
Management Uptake
& Actions
Algae
Habitats and biodiversity
Education
Plankton
Oceanographic connectivity
Zoning
Climate change
Compliance
Fishing pressure
Code of practice
Nutrient supply
Management
Cyclones/flooding events
Marine Parks
Fish and Sharks
Predators
Prey
Grazers
Themed Objectives
• Coral Reef Health
• Fish and Sharks
• Environmental Pressures and Connectivity
Coral Reef Health
Ningaloo Fish Surveys
Muiron
Lighthouse
Bundegi
Mangrove
Mandu
Exmouth
Gulf
Osprey
Cloates
300
Legend
Old Sanctuary
Unclassified
Recreation
200
Sanctuary
General Use
Special Purpose (BP)
Special Purpose (SBA)
100
Algae biomass
Conservation Area
Maud
Pelican
Cape
Farquhar
0
• Reef Condition and coral growth
• Broad scale surveys
• Direct measurements of
calcification rates in corals &
coralline algae
• Thresholds of grazer biomass
(herbivory)
• Fish Biomass
• Thresholds for coral cover
• Macrophyte-coral interactions
• Effects of cyclones
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10
20
30
Roving herbivore biomass
40
0 5 10
Gnarloo
20
30
Kilometres
40
Fish and Sharks
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Recreational fishing
Environmental drivers of fish and
shark abundance
Variability and patterns in fish and
shark assemblages
Fishing pressures (effects on
recruitment and assemblage
structure)
Regional variations
Condition indicators and thresholds
Links to studies of coral reef health
Commercial fishing
Environmental pressures
and connectivity
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Habitat mapping and measures of
biodiversity
Connectivity: patterns and drivers
Regional scale oceanographic processes
Variations in fish biomass and productivity
Hydrodynamic forcing
Cross shelf variations in water quality
Underwater optics and remote sensing
Plankton
Program timeline
Planning
Establishment Ongoing assessment
Long term system dynamics
mapping
connectivity
environment
KPI coral reef health
KPI fish & shark assemblages
start
Yr 1
Yr 5
Yr 10 etc
Program Outcomes
• Strategic input to regional conservation
• Benefits to planning and ongoing management by EPA, DEC and
DOF to enable timely responses to human impacts
• Provide regional context to management. Conservation and EBFM
decisions not made in isolation
• Identification of condition indicators and threshold estimates for
both coral reefs, fishes and sharks
• Assessment of the environmental pressures on the
Pilbara/Ningaloo region
• Establishment of a shared database management system
• Communication strategy
Synergies and Opportunities
• DEC Marine Park monitoring
• WAMSI 2 Pilbara & Climate nodes
• Integration with other DEC offset projects
(Gorgon, Wheatstone)
• Multi-institutional collaborations
• Opportunities for data sharing
Thank you