Reporting on the condition of Victoria's Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries

The ecological condition of Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries is the subject of a series of new report cards which assess condition in a consistent, logical and systematic way. Each report card... [ view full abstract ]

The ecological condition of Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries is the subject of a series of new report cards which assess condition in a consistent, logical and systematic way. Each report card identifies conservation objectives for focal ecosystems within the park, along with the key ecological attributes (KEAs) of each ecosystem and threat objectives for key threats to KEAs.. Indicators have been selected according to a set of nine criteria with emphasis on a clear link to the attribute in question, the level of disturbance required to collect data on the indicator, the precision with which the indicator can be measured, and the benefit gained for the sampling effort required. The report cards use quantitative and qualitative monitoring data, information from spatial analyses, expert opinion and information from Parks Victoria’s State of the Parks evaluation process to provide timely, accurate, and reliable information on the condition of natural assets, level of threats, trends and level of confidence in assessments. Recognising the importance of having outcome-based performance indicators, ecologically sensible and relevant limits of acceptable change for the various indicators have been set, with the expectation that these may be refined in future iterations of the report cards as more data become available. Report cards will be compared for a data-poor park, a sanctuary with dedicated monitoring program in one ecosystem, and a park that has a dedicated monitoring program and also lies within a region where numerous scientific studies have been undertaken.