Multiple Pressures Workshop

A workshop was held on the 5^th August, exploring the impact of cumulative pressures on the Great Barrier Reef. The workshop was facilitated by Britta Schaffelke, AIMS, and summarized the outputs from all NERP water quality projects including 4.1, 4.2 and 5.2. The day focused on the measurement of the accumulation of impacts on reef organisms from simultaneous and sequential pressures which are diminishing the ability of the reef to recover to previous states (i.e. impaired resilience).

All stressors/pollutants currently measured on the GBR are interacting through complex responses and processes and require a management response that is aware of how these pressures are working cumulatively across GBR ecosystems.

The main objectives of this workshop were to inform stakeholders about relevant NERP water quality outcomes. In addition and in collaboration with stakeholders, the workshop began a process of developing a GBR-relevant description of cumulative impacts and identified information needs of the research-users. Finally, the workshop identified future research focus areas for experimental ecology/modelling in engaged discussions between researchers and research-users.

Discussion focused on the need to develop cumulative impact assessment policies, accounting for the multiple use of the GBR and the numerous pressures that it faces. The tools available are monitoring, experimentation, models and scenarios built from the outcomes of the driver-response data collected in the NERP water quality projects.

The day was well attended, with researchers and research-users representing Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), RRRC, James Cook University, University of Queensland, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, World Wildlife Fund, Australian Marine Parks Tourism Operators, Reef Catchments and NQ Dry Tropics.

For more information, contact Dr Sven Uthicke from AIMS at s.uthicke@aims.gov.au.