Marine Science 2016 Edition

Marine parks Page 563 Figure 563.1 Shipping is a major activity in Moreton Bay Marine Park. Figure 563.3 Currents off Coffs Harbour Water quality issues Declining water quality is a significant issue. The catchments are heavily used and runoff of sediments and nutrients into the Bay is high. There are problems in the inner bay where the circulation is limited. Seasonal outbreaks of a toxic algae Lyngbya , which kills fish and causes skin irritations in bathers, are blamed on elevated nutrients. To improve water quality in the Bay, the Local Councils which control the catchments collaborated in a detailed study of the environment. This found that water quality near Brisbane was not good, but that in the eastern ocean side is excellent. The Councils combined to established Healthy Waterways , a body to better manage catchments, and there are already some improvements in water quality. Conclusions Moreton Bay is a unique area with high biodiversity value, but is subject to intense human uses. The Moreton Bay Marine Park demonstrates the potential of multiple-use protected areas in areas of high usage. Healthy Waterways also demonstrates how a cooperative approach to catchment management is possible. Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) New South Wales has recently established three large, multiple- use marine protected areas: the Solitary Islands region near Coffs Harbour on the North Coast, Lord Howe island in the offshore Tasman Sea, and Jervis Bay on the South Coast. Another is planned for the Byron Bay area on the far North Coast. The NSW Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) extends 75 km north from Coffs Harbour to the 3 mile limit, and is over 70,000 ha in area. Commonwealth waters beyond 3 miles increase its size to almost 100,000 ha. Biodiversity values The SIMP region includes many different habitats: estuaries, beaches, rocky shores, shallow and deep continental shelf sediments and rocky reefs, supporting salt marsh, seagrasses, mangroves, and intertidal, algal, coral and sea floor communities. The Solitary Islands lie in a tropical/temperate overlap zone, or ‘ecotone’. They are bathed by the strong East Australian Current (Figure 563.3) which brings warm tropical water and tropical larvae from the south Pacific and Great Barrier Reef region. This current meets the cold southern water around the Port Stephens area, and is diverted into the Tasman Sea, bringing warm water and larvae to Lord Howe Island, the southern-most coral reef in the world. The subtropical coral reefs are unique. They are dependent on the warm east Australian Current, and are few in number, small in size and are very widely separated (many by hundreds of kilometres). They occur at the lower temperature limit of coral growth and do not grow fast enough to form reef structures. They are made up of a mix of tropical and cold water species but are dominated by a few specialist subtropical corals. Cold current (Illustration courtesy CSIRO) Bob Moffatt Bob Moffatt Bob Moffatt Figure 563.2 Ball's Pyramid & Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Tourism