Inquiry into Marine and Coastal Pollution
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 2 ▪ BACKGROUND ▪ General ▪ The Problems ▪ Declining water quality ▪ Loss of marine and coastal habitats ▪ Lack of strategic planning and management practices ▪ Lack of marine science policy
CHAPTER 2
BACKGROUND
General
As an island continent with a long coastline Australia has many different marine and estuarine environments. These span a wide range of coastal types, climates and geological and biological regions, which house a rich store of biological diversity. Many are far away from major population centres and are little affected by human activities. Large stretches of the coastline are among the least polluted places on earth.Australia's marine environment spans almost 60 degrees in latitude, from Torres Strait to Heard and Macquarie Islands, and 75 degrees longitude, from Cocos Island to Norfolk Island. In November 1994 the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) came into effect, and with it Australia's declaration of its 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The EEZ covers over 11 million square kilometres, one of the largest in the world.UNCLOS provides the rights to exploit the natural resources of the EEZ but also obliges Australia, under Article 192, to protect and preserve the marine environment of the EEZ. The Convention requires Australia to prevent land based and ship sourced marine pollution and to work internationally to prevent it. It requires Australia to advance knowledge of the EEZ by undertaking marine scientific research and promotes the sustainable use and conservation of the living resources of the high seas. The length of Australia's mainland coastline, including Tasmania, is 36,735 kilometres, of which sand beaches comprise 53 per cent, rocky shores 23 per cent, soft (mud) shores 22 per cent and estuaries, lagoons, inlets and seawalls two per cent. Fourteen per cent is protected. Thirty per cent of the coastline is inhabited. Australia's settlement has, naturally enough, been significantly influenced by its geography. The combined result of the dryness of the continent and the nature of various historical developments has been that the great majority of the population is concentrated in the coastal zone of the east, south east and south west.It is a commonplace that Australia is among the most urbanised countries in the world. It is also a commonplace that the vast majority of its urban populations are located along the coast, mostly the eastern coast. Eighty six per cent of the population live in the coastal zone, 67 per cent within the coastal towns and cities and 26 per cent within three kilometres of the coast. The six state capitals, which include the largest cities in Australia and contain 55 per cent of the population, all lie on the coast.In recent years there has been an increasing dispersal from the major cities to smaller coastal settlements. In the past two decades about half of Australia's population growth has occurred in non-metropolitan parts of the zone. The fastest growing areas have been the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast in Queensland, the central and north coasts of New South Wales and the south west of Western Australia. While the Australian population grew by 32 per cent between 1971 and 1991, the population of the non-metropolitan coastal zone grew by 95 per cent. This concentration of population along the coastal fringes of the country has brought with it particular demands on the coastal zone and particular problems, many of which are related to the subject of this report. The resources of the coastal zone are subject to a wide range of uses, including: ▪ housing and urban development; ▪ tourism and recreation; ▪ industry and commerce; ▪ fisheries and mariculture; ▪ mineral and petroleum exploration and extraction; ▪ agriculture, grazing and forestry; and ▪ building, construction and infrastructure.
There is no dispute that the increasing demands placed on its resources by a growing population have put Australia's coastal zone under serious strain. A number of reports in recent years have reached similar conclusions. As the Final Report Overview of the Resource Assessment Commission's Coastal Zone Inquiry states: 'If our forebears had known what we know now, and had not squandered what they did, the returns to us today would be higher than they are. The consequence of the concentration of Australia's population in particular areas of the coastal zone has been that the environment of many of those areas has been degraded. Pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal waters and shores, and urban sprawl, have been identified as major problems by all recent inquiries into the coastal zone. Australia's most severe marine environmental problems are adjacent to the ten per cent of the coast which is urbanised or urbanising. The importance of coastal marine environments, both ecologically and economically, cannot be overstated. Australia has the third largest area of mangroves in the world, and the northern mangroves are among the world's most diverse. Our waters also have the greatest diversity of seagrass and some of the largest seagrass beds in the world. The Great Barrier Reef is not only a national icon but is regarded internationally as a reef system of unparalleled significance.Estuaries, mangroves, seagrass meadows and coral reefs provide breeding and feeding grounds for myriad marine species, including commercial fish species. Seagrass meadows and mangroves provide essential habitats for commercial and endangered species and act as sediment traps, consolidating the sea floor and reducing the sediment load. Reefs and mangrove forests also function as barriers protecting coasts against storm damage.The economic potential of the EEZ is enormous. In 1994 the Ocean Outlook Congress, hosted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Australian Geological Survey Organisation, reported that Australia's marine territories could contribute between $50 billion and $85 billion a year to the national economy within a quarter of a century. Marine based industries are currently worth approximately $30 billion per year. The degradation of the marine and coastal environment as a result of pollution and coastal development thus has implications not only for the quality of the environment itself, and attempts to preserve it for future generations, but also has wider economic implications. If only in terms of self-interest and the desire to maintain the marine environment as a sustainable resource, there is an urgent need to address issues raised in this report.In the wake of earlier reports such as that of the Resource Assessment Commission's inquiry and the 1995 State of the Marine Environment Report the issue before those responsible for the management of the coastal zone and the wider marine environment is how to approach the complex issues raised by what we do now know. One of the recurring messages to the Committee during the course of this inquiry was that although there is much that is not known, and while there is still a great deal of research that needs to take place, enough is known to guide decision makers in managing the coastal zone for the future. However, the overlapping jurisdictions of local, State and Commonwealth Governments and their agencies, and the competing needs of land based and marine industries, agriculture, urban development and tourism and recreational use, present significant difficulties in planning management strategies. These difficulties, and the need for integrated management of the coastal zone and for cooperation between the different spheres of government, were also recurrent themes of the evidence received by the Committee.
The Problems
The coastal zone, the marine environment, marine pollution: under one heading or another Australia's coast and its waters have been the subject of a number of reports and policy initiatives in recent years.However, many of those making submissions or giving evidence to the Committee referred to the number of earlier reports and commented on the lack of effective, coordinated action taken as a result. Evidence presented during the course of the inquiry made clear the extreme urgency of the problem and the overwhelming need for a coordinated approach from all spheres of government.In addition to inquiries by particular agencies or organisations into specific geographical areas of the marine environment, or reports on particular issues, these reports have included: 1991 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts, The Injured Coastline
The State of the Marine Environment Report (SOMER) identified declining water quality, loss of marine and coastal habitats, unsustainable use of marine and coastal resources, lack of marine science policy and of long-term research and monitoring of the marine environment, and lack of strategic planning in the marine and coastal environments as the major issues affecting the marine environment. These issues are particularly associated with urban and developed coastlines. Most of the problems identified in the two reports cited above are of particular relevance to the Committee's inquiry. The issues identified by SOMER cover a number of specific matters which came to the Committee's notice during the course of its inquiry:
Declining water quality ▪ elevated nutrients and sediments, largely the result of inappropriate catchment land use practices, sewage discharges and urban run-off; ▪ oil pollution, largely from urban run-off; ▪ heavy metals; ▪ organochlorines from herbicides and insecticides, which are magnified or bioaccumulated in marine food chains; and ▪ beach and ocean litter, including plastics and fishing debris which pose a threat to marine life.
Loss of marine and coastal habitats ▪ degradation of estuaries and coastal lakes as a result of sedimentation, eutrophication, acid soil run-off, coastal developments, loss of habitats and overfishing; ▪ declines in temperate seagrass beds caused by elevated nutrients and sediments; ▪ loss of mangrove and saltmarsh habitats near urban areas through reclamations, drainage and other developments, affecting in turn fish and other sea life which use these as nurseries and feeding grounds; ▪ inappropriate and unsustainable coastal development; and ▪ introduced exotic species which threaten habitats, marine communities and aquaculture farms.
Lack of strategic planning and management practices ▪ lack of planning which considers the high degree of connection between the land and the sea, and the different administrative jurisdictions involved; ▪ lack of integrated catchment based management; ▪ lack of diffuse source pollution controls; and ▪ deficiencies in environmental impact assessment.
Lack of marine science policy ▪ lack of comprehensive, long-term scientific information, resulting from a lack of long-term research and monitoring of Australia's marine environment; ▪ lack of applied scientific knowledge on the marine environment for practical use by local authorities; and ▪ lack of scientific understanding of the functioning of marine ecosystems, necessary for effective management.
According to SOMER the most serious issues affecting the marine environment stem from catchment use and therefore from declining water quality. Increased levels of nutrients and sediments are the major problems. The major causes of these problems are soil erosion and declining inland water quality. The most serious consequences are the dieback of seagrasses in temperate Australia and the threats to inshore corals in the wet tropics. SOMER found that the key issues are interrelated. Because the major source of threats to the marine environment lie inland in the catchments, strategic, integrated planning and management in the coastal zone is of paramount importance. The problems identified by SOMER, and their causes, relate directly to the primary term of reference of the Committee's inquiry, which deals with land based sources of marine pollution. Various authorities cite 80 per cent as the figure for the proportion of marine pollution originating from land based sources.
During the course of its inquiry the Committee heard the same message from witness after witness, the message voiced repeatedly in recent years at global conventions and in successive domestic reports: that we must control our behaviour on the land in order to protect the sea. There seems to be unanimous agreement as to the significance of the impacts of land based activities on the marine environment. There seems also to be unanimous agreement that the difficulties faced in overcoming them are matters of political will, administrative complexity and community education.According to Australia's Report to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development on the Implementation of Agenda 21, any general curtailment of development in the coastal zone is not an option that can be reasonably pursued as it would have serious implications for the Australian economy and the welfare of all Australians. On the other hand, if nothing is done to protect the coast there will be an increased risk of permanent damage that will significantly affect the standard of living in Australia and the future amenity of coastal ecosystems. The challenge is to manage the use of the coast, and of the wider marine environment, in sustainable ways so that undesirable impacts are minimised.It is a challenge facing the whole community, from legislators, bureaucrats and industry to individuals and local communities: to accept the overwhelming need to change our collective ways when it comes to agricultural and industrial practices, the nature and location of our urban developments and our domestic and recreational habits; in fact, our very lifestyle. It is precisely because the problem is related to all that we do that it has been so difficult to confront but it is precisely for that reason that we must confront it, and do so in a timely, coherent and effective way, across all sectors of the community and all spheres of government.The principal sources of marine pollution dealt with in this report are agricultural and urban run-off, sewage outfalls and industrial discharges, and disturbance of the marine environment from coastal development. Other issues include the introduction of exotic marine species, aquaculture and oil pollution.The report describes the nature of these problems and their effect on the marine environment before examining current methods of addressing the problems and possible means of improving their management. The report also considers the state of our scientific knowledge of the marine environment and the needs of the relevant agencies.Inevitably, discussion of marine and coastal pollution involves consideration of general coastal management issues. Chapter 4 of this report focuses to a large extent on policies and frameworks which embrace more than just pollution issues but which are central to the management of marine and coastal pollution.
Reference : www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/ecita_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/marine/report/c02.htm