evaluating management effectiveness of the gbr marine park.… …& some lessons learnt
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Management Effectiveness Session WPC Durban. Evaluating management effectiveness of the GBR Marine Park.… …& some lessons learnt. Jon Day Director (Conservation, Biodiversity & World Heritage) GBRMPA September 2003. The Great Barrier Reef. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Evaluating management effectiveness Evaluating management effectiveness of the GBR Marine Park.…of the GBR Marine Park.…
…& …& somesome lessons learntlessons learnt
Jon Day Director (Conservation, Biodiversity & World Heritage)
GBRMPASeptember 2003
Management Effectiveness Session WPC Durban
GBR is not a typical MPA in terms of its size or its complexity….
…..but some of the lessons learnt may be of relevance to other MPAs.
The Great Barrier Reef
• A wide range of monitoring, research & management tasks currently undertaken
• Address specific ecological, biophysical, social or governance aspects
• Most can assist in evaluating management effectiveness
Evaluating management effectiveness in GBR
Monitoring in the GBR
• Variety of monitoring - long-term Variety of monitoring - long-term (site specific & regional (site specific & regional scales)scales); reactive/ impact assessment ; reactive/ impact assessment (generally site-specific); (generally site-specific); compliance (compliance (issue-specificissue-specific))
• Considerable other monitoring occurring:Considerable other monitoring occurring:• Day-to-day management monitoringDay-to-day management monitoring• Community/volunteer monitoring egCommunity/volunteer monitoring eg..
• COTSWATCHCOTSWATCH• ‘‘Eye on the Reef ‘Eye on the Reef ‘
Socio-economicSocio-economic• Log book data for all fisheries
• Spatial/temporal changes in use patterns • Value (eg. GVP, days of effort)
Vessel Monitoring System
Socio-economic Socio-economic (cont.)(cont.)• Permits issued – location, type• Visitor use patterns
• EMC data sets• Visitor surveys
• Community surveys• Reef visitor perception surveys
Permission Type 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01
Tourism programs 311 352 204 432 502 Tourist facilities 6 8 3 6 5 Offshore structures 17 14 3 8 8 Moorings 35 25 1 30 113 Research programs 160 152 105 170 114 Education programs 44 46 63 61 69 Other activities 181 182 136 153 200
Total permits 754 779 515 860 1011
GovernanceGovernance
• 3Yr Rolling Programs & Annual reports for DDM• Enforcement coverage – no. of patrols• Enforcement statistics• Education/interp programs
• Zoning Plans• Level of public participation
• Stakeholder involvement• Meetings of LMACs & RACs• Outcomes
• Expenditure by mgt activity 0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
Number of Submissions Received for GBRMPA Zoning
No. of Submissions 29 920 391 233 626 1,009 138 233 10,191
Cap Central 1983
Cairns 1983
Far Northern
1986
Mackay/Cap 1988
Cairns 1992
Gumoo1998
Far Northern
2001
RAP 2002
• Generally ‘stand-alone’ tasks• Requirement arising from Audit review • Only recently has integration
been considered• Still viewed as an ‘add-on’, rather than
a key task or part of ongoing planning cycle
Evaluating management effectiveness in GBR
Monitoring - lessons learnt• No monitoring program is perfect when first set up • Recognising both ‘natural’ & ‘human-induced’ changes• Monitoring results/trends can sometimes take a long time
(often outside management & political timeframes)• Report outputs/outcomes in simple formats if possible• Value of quick, easily accessible results • Monitor ‘outside the square’ (put MPA in broader context)• Consider new technologies (c.f. destructive sampling)
• If possible, use field managers/users to assist with monitoring• Problems of ‘shifting baselines’
“Shifting baselines”
“Each generation accepts the species composition and stock sizes that they first observe as a natural baseline from which to evaluate changes. This ignores the fact that this baseline may already represent a disturbed state. The resource then continues to decline, but the next generation resets their baseline to this newly depressed state. The result is a gradual accommodation of the creeping disappearance of resource species, and inappropriate reference points .…..”
Pauly 1995
Dugong in the GBR
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000• Recent increase represents
small fluctuation in a population that is far fewer than existed in the 1960s
• GBR dugong population (south of Cooktown) “is a fraction (~ 3%) of what it was decades ago”
Aerial surveys since mid 1980’s:Aerial surveys since mid 1980’s:
Monitoring outside MPA
Indicators/triggers
Examples of indicators/triggers in GBRMP:Water quality• Chlorophyll a concentration targets• End-or catchment discharge targets (sediment, N, P)East Coast Trawl Management Plan• Decrease in level of effort in 1st year and subsequent years• Level of by-catch• No. of boats involved in illegal activitiesConservation – review of zoning (representative areas)• Biophysical Operating Principles
Trawl Audit ReportTrawl Audit Report• 205 page report• 40 specific & technical
recommendationsØ 34 tables with dataØ 24 graphs presenting
fishery trendsØ areas for improvementØ further research req’d
• a public document on GBRMPA’s websitewww.gbrmpa.gov.au
Audit of the Management of the Queensland East Coast Trawl Fishery in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Report prepared by Dorothea Huber, Senior Project Manager
Fisheries Issues Group, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
May 2003
The Biophysical & SECThe Biophysical & SEC Operating Principles Operating Principles
Biophysical principles (developed by tropical marine expert scientists)1. Min. size 20km across2. Larger is better3. Replicate to reduce risk4. Don’t split reefs (don’t split zone)5,6. At least 20% per reef/non reef bioregion …7. Consider cross-shelf & latitudinal diversity8. Include eg.s of all community types & physical environments9. Consider marine ‘connectivity’10. Consider special & unique sites11. Consider adjacent uses
Social, economic, cultural & management principles 1. Maximise complementarity with adjacent uses2. Recognise social benefits / costs3. Complement existing & future management4. Maximise public understanding & enforceability
Problems if percentages (eg 20%) applied in isolation or as a
target
Indicators – lessons learnt• Not practical/necessary to develop indicators for every
objective.• Indicators must reflect changes at spatial and temporal scales of
relevance to management.• Dynamic systems (= huge variability in nature)…. challenge is
to develop performance indicators that are robust to the many sources of uncertainty
• Don’t create ‘sunset clauses’ that require demonstrable conservation results after a fixed, and often short, time in operation.
• Problems of targets, particularly if using simplistic formulae: • spatial targets (what happens elsewhere?)
Need to be cognizant of changes in all MPAs:• rapidly changing patterns of use• technological change• social- economic changes• political change• dynamic systems natural changes
Monitoring in ever-changing environment
Hence need for adaptive management
Parma et al (1998)
Adaptive managementAdaptive management“…..managing according to
a plan by which decisions are made and modified as a function of what is known and learned about the system, including information about the effect of previous management actions”.
Monitoring & adaptive managementMonitoring & adaptive management
Monitoring Management decisions For example
Monitoring of dugong populations in the Marine Park
Concern re. apparent decline following 3 surveys (1986/87, 1992, 1994)
Management Actions eg DPAs
Further monitoring & research
Dugong recognised as a specialvalue of the GBRWHA with world-wide declining populations
The complexities of evaluating marine areas
• Extent of interconnectedness• ‘downstream’ issues• MPA affected by surroundings
• 3 dimensional• not easily viewed, delineated
nor managed• logistics to monitor/manage
• lack of knowledge & understanding
Different priorities /different Different priorities /different agendasagendas
• Managers, researchers, local communities and politicians all have very different perspectives/ timeframes
• Differing views on what are appropriate indicators
Challenges need to clearly articulate
management issues & objectives
work together to determine priorities for monitoring/evaluation
provide more effective and timely information for managers
A picture paints a thousand words…..A picture paints a thousand words…..1890
1994
Key Performance Indicators
Clear links to Authority’s Goal & Portfolio Budget Statement
Evaluating mgt effectiveness - lessons learnt
• Most, if not all, management approaches need to be periodically reviewed and updated.
• No successful management regime can be inflexible to new information.
• Need to consider a wider context than just your MPA • Monitoring/evaluation should concentrate on the most
important issues affecting or potentially affecting your MPA (eg WQ)
• Aim to get monitoring & evaluation as part of the management/planning cycle
ConclusionsConclusions
• Recognition that monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management are all fundamental components for effective resource management.
• Reporting is now a requirement of Government.• MPAs are dynamic – evaluation needs to determine
what change is ‘acceptable’ Vs what is ‘not acceptable’
• Precautionary principle – can’t afford to wait for perfect science before taking management action.
Conclusions Conclusions (cont)(cont) • Outcomes of evaluation must be presented in a manner
which is useable/understandable to those who were not involved in developing the monitoring (if possible, use pictures, graphs)
• Learn from previous management actions to improve ongoing management (ie adaptive management).
• The main excuses for not evaluating performance ….….. institutional barriers, high costs, concern about
‘what it might show’ & lack of political support.
THANK YOU
Particular thanks to my GBRMPA colleagues
For more information about GBRMPA’s activities:
www.gbrmpa.gov.au