Marine protected areas for whales, dolphins, and porpoises: a world ...

420 Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
On paper, NRSMPA, Oceans Policy, Regional Marine Planning and the EPBC
Act are pioneering advances, showing the talent and efforts of Australia’s
scientists, marine conservationists and policy-makers and demonstrating that
Australia could lead the world in marine habitat conservation. Yet the
implementation is not coming up to the potential. Criticism has been considerable
– both in terms of the effectiveness for ecosystem-based management in
Commonwealth waters, as well as the ultimate value for cetaceans (Smyth et al,
2003):
• Besides the delayed implementation, the NRSMPA is limited by lack of
resources for declaration and management, lack of commitment to meeting
international scientific standards for IUCN Category I protection, a reduced
emphasis on species protection and difficulties in dealing with the steady
expansion of industrial activities, especially fishing, petroleum, coastal
development and shipping.
• Regarding Oceans Policy and the Regional Marine Planning, despite
considerable time and money having been spent, not one regional marine
plan has been finalized; the draft of the first plan proposed largely a businessas-usual,
non-spatial approach to management, with a significant reduction in
emphasis on ecosystem-based management.
• The existing protection, as embodied in the EPBC Act, is too narrowly applied
by both proponents and government. Unfortunately, the act is generally not
being used to protect all cetaceans, instead focusing on only those formally
listed as threatened or migratory. On top of that, the cetacean provisions of
the Act only apply in Commonwealth waters and do not address all the threats
against cetaceans.
Smyth et al (2003) have called for urgent reform of the EPBC Act. In Oceans Eleven,
a document endorsed by the 18 major NGOs in Australia, they recommended
amendments:
• that would make all marine mammals either vulnerable or conservationdependent
species in recognition of their position within the marine
ecosystem;
• to identify and list critical habitat for all marine mammals on the EPBC Act
Register;
• to address the full range of threats experienced by marine mammals in
Australian waters;
• to provide to the Environment and Heritage Minister increased powers to
oversee and regulate the Petroleum and Submerged Lands Act over important
cetacean habitat in both Commonwealth and state marine waters;
• to provide for the declaration and legal protection of all areas identified as
critical habitat, and provide appropriate levels of protection for all such
identified areas;
• to provide for the creation of a scientific register of government-accredited
cetacean specialists for industry-observer coverage; and
• to provide for the creation of a National Cetacean Centre to manage industryobserver
coverage, cetacean sighting reports and to promote and supervise
cetacean research.