Marine Natural Values Study Summary - Parks Victoria

Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act andregarded as critically endangered bothin Victoria and nationally.The park protects feeding areas forfourteen internationally importantmigrant species protected under theAustralia Migratory Bird Agreementwith either China (CAMBA) or Japan(JAMBA).Ten species of marine flora and faunaare believed to be at their distributionallimits within the park.Major ThreatsMeasures to address or minimise threatsidentified for Corner Inlet MarineNational Park form part of the parkmanagement plan. Parks Victoriaalso uses an adaptive managementapproach which includes periodicreviews of priority natural values andthreats through processes such as theState of the Parks evaluation andsetting of desired conservationoutcomes. Through these processesParks Victoria has identified emergingthreats and developed appropriatemanagement responses.Serious threats include increasedsediment and nutrients from thecatchment, seawalls, invasive marinepests, changed catchment hydrology,dredging, propeller scour, and oilor chemical spills.Two marine pests, the green shorecrab Carcinus maenas and broccoliweed Codium fragile subspecies fragile,have been recorded in the park.The cordgrass Spartina anglica is alsopresent in the park, but is morewidespread in northern Corner Inletin the Marine and Coastal Park.Six-spine leatherjacket Meuschenia freycinetti abovePosidonia australis seagrass bed.Photo by Mark Norman, Museum Victoria.Since the 1970s large areas of theseagrass Posidonia australis havebeen lost in Corner Inlet throughdieback, particularly in the west.The most probable cause is thoughtto be associated with the increasedsediment and nutrient loads.P. australis loss has not been observedin the park, although the potentialfor it to occur is a significant threat.Climate change also poses a seriousmedium to long term threat tonatural values. Parks Victoria will usean adaptive management approachto develop responses and actions thatfocus on priority climate change issuessuch as extreme weather events andexisting risks that are likely to beexacerbated by climate change.Research and MonitoringParks Victoria has establishedextensive marine research andmonitoring programs that addressimportant management challengesfor the marine national parks andsanctuaries. These focus on improvingbaseline knowledge, as well as appliedmanagement questions.Since the establishment of the parksin 2002 our knowledge andunderstanding of natural values andthreats for the system have improvedsignificantly through the marinescience program. Much of theresearch has been undertaken as partof the Research Partners Programinvolving collaboration with variousresearch institutions.There are four ongoing researchprojects and one habitat mappingproject that are relevant to CornerInlet Marine National Park, while fiveresearch projects and one habitatmapping project have already beencompleted. There is one ongoingcommunity based monitoring program(Sea Search), which monitors thebroad-leaf seagrass in the park.While recognising there are stillknowledge gaps Parks Victoria willcontinue to focus on addressingthe information needs that willassist management.For more information, includingmarine habitat mapping products,please see the full versions of theMarine Natural Values reportson www.parks.vic.gov.au.63