Project 8.2 'Do no-take marine reserves contribute to biodiversity and fishery sustainability? Assessing the effects of management zoning on inshore reefs of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park'

Project 8.2 'Do no-take marine reserves contribute to biodiversity and fishery sustainability? Assessing the effects of management zoning on inshore reefs of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park'

Spatial zoning for multiple-use is the cornerstone of management for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP). Multiple-use zoning was first implemented widely in the GBRMP in the late 1980s and this original zoning plan was in place until 2004, when the marine park was completely rezoned under the Representative Areas Program (RAP). An increased appreciation of current and future threats to the GBR ecosystem, strong national support for increased protection and sufficient political will, led to the establishment of a large number of new no-take marine reserves (‘NTRs’ – Marine National Park ‘green’ zones and Preservation ‘pink’ zones). The overall proportion of the marine park area assigned into NTRs was increased from around 5% (~25% of the coral reefs) to 33.4%, with the greatest proportional increases assigned to non-reef habitats that were under-represented for protection in the original zoning plan. The need to objectively assess the ecological and sociological implications of zoning management is widely acknowledged, and it has attracted an increasing amount of research effort in recent years. Critical knowledge gaps still remain however, and research is required to determine how and to what extent NTR networks may help to protect biodiversity, sustain stocks of fished species and increase ecosystem resilience.

This project was established in 1999 and expanded in 2004, with the primary objective of providing a robust assessment of the ecological effects of multiple-use zoning on inshore coral reefs of the GBRMP.  The project has provided the most convincing evidence to date that no-take protection in the GBRMP has led to significant enhancement of exploited fish populations within no- take zones. It has also established the basis for effectively assessing the role of NTR networks in protecting biodiversity, sustaining ecosystem goods and services, and mitigating against disturbance events and the cumulative impacts of climate change.

This project will generate outputs that will provide a direct assessment of the ecological effects of multiple-use management zoning on inshore reefs of the GBRMP. Temporal sampling of fish assemblages and benthic communities within NTRs and in areas that have remained open to fishing will provide information on:

  • Effects of no-take zoning on targeted and non-targeted reef fish species;
  • Variations in fish assemblage structure due to NTR protection and natural disturbance events;
  • Natural and fishing induced mortality of exploited species;
  • Benthic community structure and dynamics; and
  • Coral health, bleaching, incidence and severity of disease and coral predators.

The project will also build on previously acquired data on derelict fishing lines on the reef to provide an assessment of the usage patterns of recreational fishers on these high-use inshore reefs. Specific information will be gained on the distribution of fishing effort and the relative levels of effort imposed on open and NTR zones, based on abundance and distribution of derelict fishing lines. This aspect of the project will provide direct estimates of the levels of non-compliance within NTR zones.

Project objectives at a glance

The key objective of the project is to provide a robust assessment of the effects of multiple-use management zoning on:

  • Abundance and population structure of fishery target species;
  • Reef fish assemblage structure and dynamics;
  • Benthic community composition and dynamics;
  • Coral health based on occurrence and severity of coral disease; and
  • Usage patterns of recreational fishers and compliance with zoning regulations.

Specific objectives and intended outputs of this Project are detailed in the NERP TE Hub Multi-Year Research Plan.


Project Factsheet


 

Link to the Project 8.2 homepage on e-Atlas


 

Project Duration: 
1 Jul 2011 to 31 Dec 2012