The Comparative Performance of the Management of the Individual Threats to Marine Environments and Fisheries Resources Robert Kearney & Graham Farebrother 2014 FRDC Project No 2013/029 © 2015 Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN 978-0-9804231-3-6 The comparative performance of the management of the individual threats to marine environments and fisheries resources 2013/029 2015 Ownership of Intellectual property rights Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this publication is owned by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra. This publication (and any information sourced from it) should be attributed to KEARNEY, R. & FAREBROTHER, G. 2015. The comparative performance of the management of the individual threats to marine environments and fisheries resources (FRDC Project No: 2013/029). Canberra: FRDC. 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The authors do not accept any form of liability, be it contractual, tortious, or otherwise, for the contents of this document or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The information, opinions and advice contained in this document may not relate, or be relevant, to a readers particular circumstances. Opinions expressed by the authors are the individual opinions expressed by those persons and are not necessarily those of the publisher, research provider or the FRDC. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation plans, invests in and manages fisheries research and development throughout Australia. It is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, jointly funded by the Australian Government and the fishing industry. Researcher Contact Details FRDC Contact Details Name: Robert E. Kearney Address: 25 Geils Court Address: 386 Woolooware Rd. Deakin ACT 2600 Cronulla NSW 2230 Phone: 02 6285 0400 Phone: 02 9527 2936 Fax: 02 6285 0499 Fax: 02 9544 3038 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web: www.frdc.com.au In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to FRDC publishing this material in its edited form. ii Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................. vi Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................ vi Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. ix 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 2 The Development of the Approach ................................................................................................... 1 2.1 What are threats and why should they be managed? ...................................................................2 2.1.1 What is being threatened? ..................................................................................................3 2.1.2 What is the value of what is threatened? (Why does it warrant protection?) .....................4 2.1.3 The definition of ‘evil or harm’ ..........................................................................................5 2.1.4 The severity of the harm that is observed or anticipated ....................................................5 2.1.5 The likelihood of harm occurring .......................................................................................6 2.1.6 The probability that management action will result in a measurable and sustainable benefit ..........................................................................................................................................6 3 Human Driven Environmental Change ............................................................................................ 7 3.1 Human activities and pressures ....................................................................................................8 3.2 Industry ........................................................................................................................................9 3.3 Agriculture ...................................................................................................................................9 3.4 Urbanisation ...............................................................................................................................10 4 Case Studies ...................................................................................................................................... 10 4.1 North Coast ................................................................................................................................11 4.1.1 Cudgen Creek ...................................................................................................................11 4.1.2 Richmond River ...............................................................................................................15 4.1.3 Clarence River ..................................................................................................................20 4.2 Sydney Metropolitan ..................................................................................................................23 4.2.1 Botany Bay .......................................................................................................................23 4.2.2 Port Hacking .....................................................................................................................28 4.3 South Coast ................................................................................................................................32 4.3.1 Lake Conjola ....................................................................................................................32 4.3.2 Baragoot Lake ..................................................................................................................33 5 Broad Categorisation of Threats ..................................................................................................... 35 6 Tabulated Threats ............................................................................................................................ 36 7 The Many Threats and Their Effects ............................................................................................. 38 7.1 Land Based Pollution and Eutrophication .................................................................................38 7.1.1 Heavy Metals ....................................................................................................................38 7.1.2 Halogenated Hydrocarbons ..............................................................................................38 7.1.3 PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) ........................................................................39 7.1.4 Pharmaceuticals ................................................................................................................39 7.1.5 Endocrine Disruption .......................................................................................................40 7.1.6 Eutrophication ..................................................................................................................40 7.1.7 Pathogens..........................................................................................................................41 7.1.8 Acidic Sulfate Run-off .....................................................................................................41 7.1.9 Litter, Debris and Micro Plastics ......................................................................................42 7.1.10 Ocean Dumping ..............................................................................................................43 7.1.11 Tailings Disposal ............................................................................................................43 7.1.12 Nano-particles ................................................................................................................43 7.1.13 Noise/Physical Disturbance/Light ..................................................................................44 iii 7.1.14 Thermal Pollution ...........................................................................................................44 7.1.15 UV-B ..............................................................................................................................45 7.1.16 Radioactivity ..................................................................................................................45