This is the third article on the national advisory groups that the Marine Biodiversity Hub works with to improve the management of marine biodiversity.

In our September 2009 newsletter, the Research and Development Working Group outlined their work on developing a national approach to marine indicators. In December, we reported on the work of the Marine Biodiversity Working Group and their role in addressing Australia’s marine biodiversity decline. In this issue, the Research and Development Working Group outlines recent progress in developing a national framework for marine monitoring and evaluation.

A common assessment and reporting framework (CARF figure below) is being developed and evaluated as a national framework for monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MER) in estuarine, coastal and marine environments. CARF is designed to work across all existing MER frameworks that have been operating in the estuarine, coastal and marine arenas, as well as across fisheries, conservation, marine bioregional planning for Commonwealth, regional, state and territory frameworks.

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CARF is essentially a set of steps (components) laid out in a double loop formation based on the adaptive management paradigm. It begins with a focus on the objectives of the assessment, sets the context and scope, then introduces the emerging best practice of documenting the current understanding (e.g. as a diagrammatic conceptual model). The desired type of assessment is then conducted, drawing on the available information base including monitoring data. Finally, the ‘report against the objectives’ step is undertaken based on an explicit communication plan which delivers the required information to management. Further development of the information base, e.g. by monitoring and research, is a management response option within the ‘gather further information’ step. The process is repeated as often as needed.

CARF was endorsed by the Marine and Coastal Committee in December 2009, along with four pilot studies (detailed below) to evaluate how the framework would be used and to demonstrate the efficacy of the national approach. Each jurisdiction is involved in one or more of the studies.

Pilot study 1 - South west bioregion
This study (led by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts) will focus on a monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework of marine ecosystem health in the south-west Australian bioregion, covering state and Commonwealth waters from Shark Bay, Western Australia to Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The study is designed to examine broad-scale assets and threats in order to assess the value of ecosystem based management. It will identify those elements requiring consistent approaches between jurisdictions and conversely those elements where a national approach need not be considered.

Pilot study 2 - Iconic species - turtles
This project (led by the Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport) will evaluate how a national CARF framework could be applied to species monitoring, using sea turtles as the target species. It is anticipated that the study will identify opportunities and challenges provided by the monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework and how this could be coordinated across different scales – local, regional, national.

Pilot study 3 - Estuaries – NSW and Queensland
This study (led jointly by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management and NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water) will compare existing estuarine monitoring and assessment approaches at regional and state scales in NSW and Queensland in the context of the proposed national CARF. The study will also evaluate possible future applications of the CARF to determine the additional value provided by the CARF for delivery of natural resource management outcomes in estuarine ecosystems. The study provides the opportunity to test how Australia’s jurisdictions can work together to support a national reporting of estuarine ecosystem condition and to define common information needs.

Pilot study 4 - South-eastern Australia MPA reporting.
This study (led by CSIRO) will focus on the network of reserves within south-eastern Australia declared and managed by NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the Commonwealth. The study will assess the benefits, costs, administrative and legislative constraints of a coordinated approach across jurisdictions to MPA reporting, together with the compatibility of existing approaches to the CARF framework.