Toward an improved ecosystem based management approach: incorporating catchment characteristics into better management and planning of the Great Barrier Reef marine ecosystem

Abstract

Discharge from the Great Barrier Reef Catchment (GBRC) is considered the second most serious threat to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Utilising principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA), this research aimed to assess the variability and co-variation of 28 water basins (WBs) within the GBRC, in order to improve the institutional arrangements and regulation of water quality and increase collaboration horizontally between management organisations, and vertically between government tiers. Water basin variability was measured by nine variables: size (ha), population, agricultural land use (ha), number of major water storages, major rivers and major towns, total nitrogen exported (T/yr), total phosphorus exported (T/yr) and herbicide use (ha). The Fitzroy WB, with PC scores of 7.0081, 2.2897 and −1.6504, was identified as the most dissimilar and therefore needing to be managed differently. Many WBs within the same regions were very dissimilar to each other, indicating that current management practices, based largely on geographic location, are unlikely to be the most efficient and effective. Instead, managing groups of WBs with similar geo-political properties (determined by the CA) could be more effective and efficient. Coordination and collaboration are key to successful ecosystem based management, therefore managing similar WBs together through inter-NRM (natural resource management) agreements, irrespective of their geographical location, facilitates management bodies building strong, cooperative working relationships.

Keywords:

• ecosystem based management
• Great Barrier Reef marine ecosystem
• water basins
• principal component analysis
• cluster analysis

Acknowledgements

K. Shields would like to acknowledge the generous support of the providers of the Bruce Walls Estate Honours Scholarship. The authors would like to thank J. Wright and N. Kirchoff for their help with understanding and interpreting the PCA and CA and S. Fischer for providing valuable feedback on the research proposal. Thank you also to other staff members at the Australian Maritime College who have generously provided their time, feedback and encouragement during this research. Finally, this paper has benefited enormously in its content and focus due to three hardworking anonymous reviewers and the editor, to whom we are very grateful.