Protecting our Se a s & Shor es Priorities for marine conservation in Victoria Summary of the VNPA’s Nature Conservation Review: Marine Conservation Priorities and Issues for Victoria, 2010 An inquisitive Smooth Toadfish swims over seagrass meadow at Middle Brighton beach. Photo courtesy John Gaskell from the book Beneath Our Bay CONTACT DETAILS CONTENTS Victorian National Parks Association Victoria’s marine parks, the case for greater protection .............................................. 3 Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Climate change turns up the heat on our fragile marine world ................................4-5 Carlton, VIC 3053 Marine parks and sanctuaries, critical for life in our oceans .....................................6-7 Phone: 03 9347 5188 Fax: 03 9347 5199 Our coastlines are home to an amazing diversity of marine life .............................8-13 Email: [email protected] Priority areas identified for marine protection in Victoria ....................................14-15 Web: www.vnpa.org.au Mapping the need for change in Victoria’s marine parks system ..........................16-17 Our bays, inlets and estuaries, treasures worth protecting ..................................18-20 What is required to protect Victoria’s marine treasures .......................................21-22 You can help! .............................................................................................................. 23 ABOUT THE VNPA The Victorian National Parks Association running bushwalking and outdoor activity Conservation Review: Marine Conservation (VNPA) is Victoria’s leading nature programs which promote the care and Priorities and Issues for Victoria, produced conservation organisation. We are an enjoyment of Victoria’s natural heritage. by Australian Marine Ecology, 2010. independent, non-profit, membership- We have a vision of a diverse and It was written by Paige Shaw, VNPA based group, which exists to protect resilient Victorian marine environment, Marine and Coastal Officer, and Executive Victoria’s unique natural environment and protected for future generations through an Director Matt Ruchel. For the full report, biodiversity through the establishment and extensive network of highly protected areas recommendations, references and effective management of national parks, at the core of a comprehensive system of acknowledgements, contact VNPA. conservation reserves and other measures. marine conservation and management. For more information about We will achieve our vision by facilitating Victoria’s unique marine environment strategic campaigns and education ABOUT THIS REPORT visit www.marine.vnpa.org.au or programs, developing policies, through This is an abridged version of the Victorian email [email protected] to receive hands-on conservation work, and by National Parks Association’s Nature our ebulletin. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The VNPA would like to thank The Dara Foundation and the Reichstein Foundation for their support. Front cover photo: Old Wives, Dave Bryant. The report was designed and edited by John Sampson, and printed in Melbourne by Tara Press on 100% recycled paper. ISBN 978-1-875100-29-3 Erratum note: Final version includes map revision. Refer to page 14 for correct location of Crawfish Rock. 2 – Protecting our Seas & Shores Victoria’s marine environment is something to treasure and enjoy. Photo: John Sampson Victoria’s marine parks, the case for greater protection any people may not immediately makers have the political will. We are see what makes our coastline seeking commitments from all political and marine environment so parties to protect 20% of Victoria’s marine M Matt Ruchel special. But dive into the surf or plunge environment by 2012. into the water at any one of Victoria’s 123 VNPA Executive Director As the sole state-based environmental bays or estuaries, and you’ll experience organisation working on marine and the wondrous array of marine life teeming coastal conservation issues in Victoria under the surface. We now have an exciting opportunity it is up to us to lead the way to increase Whether you like to swim, dive, surf, to really progress our marine and coastal protection of our seas and shores. This is spend time by the sea with your family or conservation work. Australia has agreed especially important as climate change is simply stroll across rocky headlands and to international commitments that very likely to have a profound impact on sandy beaches, our fantastically varied would protect 20-30% of our marine marine and coastal environments. marine and coastal landscape is something environment by 2012, and we want to Our vision is for a diverse and we can all treasure and enjoy. ensure that Victoria is a world leader in resilient Victorian marine environment In 2002, after almost 10 years of work, marine protection. safeguarded for future generations VNPA was able to ensure that 5.3% of We have been preparing for this through an extensive network of highly Victoria’s marine waters were protected. opportunity by working hard over the past protected areas forming the core of a Thanks to our supporters, a world-class two years with leading scientists, collating comprehensive marine conservation and system of 13 parks and 11 sanctuaries was and interpreting information from VNPA’s management system. created. We want to build on that success. scientific Nature Conservation Review to We have an opportunity to act now. The Victorian marine environment is formulate our future marine and coastal I look forward to your support. unique, with 80% of its plants and animals conservation work. From this review we found nowhere else on earth. Yet despite have identified 20 priority areas needing this extraordinary fact only 5.3% of it is protection, key threats to our marine protected compared to almost 18% of our environment, and gaps in the current terrestrial environment. reserve system of marine sanctuaries and We need to protect more of our marine parks. environment to ensure that one of the This work has helped us develop a Yours sincerely, most diverse coastal regions in the world five-point action plan. However, the Matt Ruchel is safely guarded for future generations. key to success is ensuring that decision Executive Director Protecting our Seas & Shores — 3 THREATS TO OUR OCEANS Climate change turns up the heat on our fragile marine world ising sea levels, increasing ocean temperatures and growing ocean Racidity are just some of the many pressures climate change will place on our fragile marine environment. On their own they would be formidable challenges, but sadly they will only compound already serious marine threats, including mounting pest problems, overfishing of marine stocks, pollution and over-development of our coastal areas. If Victoria is to have a marine environment strong enough to withstand these challenges, we must improve the way we manage our marine ecosystems by protecting significant habitats and, as a matter of urgency, addressing all current threats to our seas and shores. A rock lobster hides under a rocky ledge in Port Phillip Bay. Photo: Bill Boyle, courtesy DSE THE DOMINO EFFECT rock lobster fishing industry but would Rising ocean acidity also have a dramatic impact on our One consequence of ocean acidification Probably the greatest threat to the future marine ecosystem, where the rock of our marine world is ocean acidification, would be to rob many marine animals 1,2,3,4 lobster plays a key role in keeping sea a direct result of unsustainable amounts of their ability to produce shells . urchin numbers under control. of carbon dioxide being pumped into the The most obvious example of how If left unchecked by their natural earth’s atmosphere. this would affect Victoria’s marine predator the rock lobster, sea urchin As we increase our carbon emissions environment is its predicted impacts on numbers could explode, allowing our seas are being forced to absorb the state’s rock lobster fishery. them to overgraze and destroy ever-greater quantities of CO2, lowering The loss of this species from our much of Victoria’s extensive kelp the overall pH balance in our oceans and waters would not only obliterate the beds and forests. slowly turning them acidic. If ocean acidification occurs on a large enough scale it will have irreversible An uncertain future In Victoria, bays and estuaries are most threatened by climate change, but and catastrophic consequences for land- As well as ocean acidification and more its effects could be felt anywhere along based and marine environments, carrying frequent and severe weather events, the coast. It is already being blamed for incalculable human costs and leading to climate change will mean rising sea levels, declining seagrass beds in Port Phillip Bay9. the collapse of entire marine ecosystems. warmer water temperatures and dramatic changes to ocean currents. And planktonic species, the organisms Rough waters ahead Global sea levels are predicted to rise that live in intertidal areas and mangrove 10 Another area of increasing alarm for by up to 0.8 metres, which could result plants , will suffer from increasing salinity marine scientists is the effect changing in parts of the Victorian coast moving up in coastal waters and reduced coastal atmospheric conditions will have on to 80 metres inland7. Rising sea levels will runoff from lower rainfall averages. phytoplankton, the single-celled plants affect low-lying coastal populations at that drift through our oceans forming the intertidal areas, mangroves and wetlands8. Other