Australia’s marine environment is, with a 13.86 million square kilometers, the world’s third largest marine jurisdiction. It serves as a home for a high biodiversity of marine species, many of which occur nowhere else in the world. In addition to that it also provides an important ecosystem services to certain aspects of the marine industries of Australia. Aspects like the fisheries, aquaculture and tourism, who are a currently worth $50 billion to Australia’s overall economy and is expected to grow up to a $100 billion in 2025. But the marine environment also functions as the foundation of many of the Australians lifestyles who are based on living near the ocean (Johnson & Holbrook, 2014) (Australia State of the Environment, 2016).
Although the marine ecosystems are currently in relative good condition, recent analyses indicate that it has suffered substantial degradation. These degradations are mostly caused by climate change. It turned out to pose a significant challenges when it comes to sustainable managing of marine species, ecosystems and communities. The magnitude of impacts on the marine ecosystems greatly depends on the rate of change, response of marine species and ecosystems and their resilience to future climate change (Ruckelshaus & Klinger & Knowlton & DeMaster, 2008) (Johnson & Holbrook, 2014).
It is expected that because of these climate changes not only the surface temperatures will magnify but also the ocean circulations, sea level, ocean chemistry and that the rainfall and storm pattern will continue to change this century. These events in combination with current human pressures, later stated in the essay, can bring great harm to Australia’s marine environment (Johnson & Holbrook, 2014).
But not only because the Australians profited from their marine environment is it important to protect their marine environment. They also have the obligation to understand and manages their marine ecosystems. Australia is part of the United Nations Convention for this they had to sign the law of the Sea. By doing this they agreed to the obligations that are contained in this framework. This means that they have accepted the environmental and natural research management obligations of the third largest area of Territorial Waters and EEZ in the world. This includes the conservation and utilization of living resources, the protection and preservation of the marine environment and biological diversity (Kenchington & Hutchings, 2012).
So in order to prevent that the status of Australia’s marine ecosystem worsens to a point of no coming back and to increase the understanding of the marine ecosystems and with this the resilience of the area a change in management approach has to be instated.
Because marine ecosystems are complex adaptive systems, that are linked across multiple scales by flow of water and species movement, they are vulnerable to rapid changes in diversity and function. A widespread declines in the status of species, habitats, and ecosystem function led to calls for ecosystem-based management (EBM) as a solution for upcoming problems. Problems mostly related to climate change in combination with human pressures on the ecosystems (Ruckelshaus & Klinger & Knowlton & DeMaster, 2008).
Because the marine ecosystems are complex adaptive systems and because there are still a lot of research gaps when we talk about marine ecosystems and conservation, it is important to combined the ecosystem-based management approach with an adaptive management approach. By doing this you can leave room in your management plan for adaptions in case of an unforeseen event or because of new information obtained from future research.
In line of the information above this essay is written with the following statement: “In order to make the ecosystems in Australia’s marine environment more resilient to future climate change it needs to be managed with an ecosystem-based management approach”.
2. Zoning of Australia’s marine environment based on habitat
Australia’s marine environment is currently divided in different zones mainly based on the type of habitat. Different marine protected areas (MPAs) are created with the idea to build resilience and create biodiversity growth in these areas. The MPAs should offer ‘climate protection’ to marine ecosystems. But not all of Australia’s marine environment is offered this ‘climate protection’, different areas have to deal with different human pressures. Pressures like: “Mining and exploration, shipping and port development, catchment activities that influence marine water quality (urban centers, industry, agriculture), fishing and tourism”. All these pressures in combination with the current magnitude of climate change are badly influencing the resilience of the marine ecosystems. For example fishing, by reduces the biodiversity of marine ecosystems you make it more sensitive to additional stresses, such as ocean warming as effect of climate change (Johnson & Holbrook, 2014) (Kenchington & Hutchings, 2012).
So, in order to build resilience towards climate change and secure future adaptation options you need to address local pressures on marine ecosystems to maintain healthy marine ecosystems (Johnson & Holbrook, 2014).
By using a management with an ecosystem-based approach you can adjust your management strategy on each specific area with its own habitat and human pressures. By doing this you can offer every ecosystem in Australia’s the best ‘climate protection’ as possible.
3. Key species
With an ecosystem-based management approach can you not only create resilience and biodiversity growth in Australia’s marine ecosystems, you can also focus on endangered keystone species. Because of an overlap of human development and animal habitat these creatures are edged closer to extinction (Australian geographic, 2014).
One of these endangered keystone species is the Grey Nurse shark (Carcharias taurus), one of the top-order predator in the Australian waters. It eats almost anything, from crustaceans to any kind of fish, sharks, rays and squid. This makes it the key in maintaining the balance in marine ecosystems along the east coast line . But because of human activity and shark control the number of this species in the Australian waters is declining. Up to 50 individuals could be found in most of the reefs along the east coast. Because they are caught in shark nets and often die of starvation and stress before they can be relocated the estimation is that there are only 500 left. Nowadays encounters of the Grey Nurse shark are rare.
The Grey Nurse shark is not the only endangered keystone species, also the Great White shark, the Australian sea lion, temperate rocky reefs, coral reefs and kelp beds are on the endangered list (Australian geographic, 2014).
In other words, the decline of keystone species is not a problem that stand on its own. The problem is caused because there is a fault in the linkages between the marine ecosystems and human societies. Therefore, ecosystem-based management is the best way to solve this problem. Because ecosystem-based management is at its core about acknowledging connections. This includes linkages, not only between marine ecosystems and human societies but also between human societies and economies and institutional systems (McLeod & Leslie, 2009).
With an ecosystem-based approach these keystone species can be protected. By setting up a framework with the goal to restore the species count of these keystone species. Bringing back the balance and with this improving the resilience of the marine ecosystems.
4. Adaptive management
In the last 35 years there has been an increase in knowledge on both the people who interact with it and the bio-physical system. But there are still gaps that need to be fill in when we talk about managing these two components. Writing a management plan for something without having complete knowledge requires a ‘back up’ system. By implementing an adaptive management approach into your management plan you can cover the fact that maybe certain thinks don’t pan out the way you though they would and you can incorporate new information as it becomes available.
But doing this you need to keep getting new information, a way to do this is with long term monitoring and research programs. Fortunately has the Australian Government and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) set up such program (Marine Ecosystem And Management, 2011).
By creating baselines and advising managers on changes in the ecosystems and environment the AIMS’s monitoring programs contribute to sustainable use and development of the marine environment. This can all be realized because the AIMS has three decades worth of long-term comprehensive datasets on the health of the Great Barrier Reef. This type of information can really contribute when setting up a management plan (AIMS and Government of Australia, 2018).
The establishment of the first large-scale monitoring programs at AIMS was in the early 1980s. With the goal to study the abundance and distribution on the reef. Since then the continuing support and res for long-term data collection has seen expanded monitoring of reef organisms and environmental monitoring of water quality, sea temperatures and weather.
Also has AIMS been developing new remote-sensing technologies in recent years, to augment the observations collected on research voyages (AIMS and Government of Australia, 2018).
All this data collection is really useful when creating a management plan with a, ecosystem-based an adaptive management approach. But still in 30 years 75 percent of the Australia’s marine estate is unexplored. But even though there is still a lot that need to be looked into, when we want to make the ecosystems in Australia’s marine habitat more resilient and to protect it from climate change, it is important that a management plan is implemented.
5. Implementation
When waiting for a greater certainty carries a real risk of leading towards a “do-nothing” strategy while seeking for sufficient information, with the likely result of major environment degradation occurring before we finish understanding the system (AIMS and Government of Australia, 2018) (Marine Ecosystem And Management, 2011).
“It is better to have approximate answers to the exact questions than to have exact answers to meaningless questions” (Marine Ecosystem And Management, 2011).
A framework to implement the two management approaches can be realized when a baseline of knowledge is established. A management framework consists out of three part: lifecycle, control cycle, and tools. In the first part, the lifecycle, the project get started. First the initiation, baseline information for the management approaches is gathered. Second the planning and execution, here is where the decisions are made and where tools like: zoning, guidelines and policy and legislation are used. This will be supervised by the AIMS with the support of the Australian Government (Study.com, 2018).
After the execution the control cycle starts, here is where adjustments are made and the progress is checked. During this part of the project is the adaptive management mainly in play, there is room for new information to be incorporate into the management plan. Finally the termination of the project, this is where the AIMS and the Australian Government close the Life- and control cycle and set steps towards new projects to keep improving the status of the Australian marine ecosystems (Study.com, 2018).
Conclusion
So, when writing a management plan for Australia’s marine environment with the goal to protect the ecosystems from degradation, as effect of climate change in combination with human pressures, and to enhance the resilience of the ecosystem you need to do this with an ecosystem-based and adaptive management approach (Ruckelshaus & Klinger & Knowlton & DeMaster, 2008).
Because the marine environment of Australia exist out of a lot of different habitats ecosystem-based management is useful. Currently the marine environment is differed by zoning, some of these zones are labeled as MPS. These particular areas are ‘climate protected’, but the rest has still to deal with the climate change and human pressures. With this type of management you can create the most fitting strategy to deal with different human pressures on different types of habitat, in order to achieve your management goal (Kenchington & Hutchings, 2012).
You can also protect certain keystone species with an ecosystem-based management approach. These species are important to the ecosystem, because the keep the balance the biodiversity. When an ecosystem has a higher biodiversity it is more resilient to ‘attacks’ on the system. It can bounce back easier because an other species can take over (Australian geographic, 2014).
But an adaptive management approach is also key to the management plan. The Australian marine systems are complex and adaptive due to the fact that they are linked on multiple scales by flow of water and species movement. What makes it is important to leave room for possible changes in the management plan. Because input of new information is very important when using adaptive management, research and monitoring programs are of most importance. But even though the Australian Government and the Australian Institute of Marine Science are well infested in these types of programs there is still a lot of the Australia’s marine estate is unexplored (AIMS and Government of Australia, 2018).
Because of that it is important to keep gathering data so you are able to have the maximum use of the adaptive management aspects. But because the marine environment is so important to the Australians, economically and personally, they are willing to make the ecosystems great again Johnson & Holbrook, 2014) (Australia State of the Environment, 2016).