The Northern Rivers CMA Marine programme 

The Marine Program is one of five natural resource-based themes contained in the Northern Rivers Catchment Action Plan.  The theme focuses on a single, aspirational, Resource Condition Target (RCT):

By 2016, maintain and improve the health of the marine environment

The intent of the Marine Program is to deliver on this target by maintaining and improving the health of the marine environment. To progress towards this goal, the program operates on several fronts, namely:

• overcoming the lack of basic knowledge of the marine environment, including its condition and trend, through projects targeting research, mapping and monitoring
• promoting development and implementation of best practice guidelines for marine resource user groups
• improving awareness and understanding, amongst resource users and the wider community, of the marine environment and their impacts on it
• supporting a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine protected areas

Programme delivery

A paucity of information available to underpin sound management of the marine environment and its user groups is a key Marine management issue for the region. Comprehensive maps showing accurate details of marine habitats and the distributions of marine flora and fauna do not exist, and there is a lack of awareness that the health of the marine environment is strongly linked to the health of the region's catchments, rivers, estuarine and coastal ecosystems, which all drain to the ocean.

While available information suggests that the region's marine environment can generally be considered healthy, it is under pressure from a number of factors, including population growth and development, reduced water flows, increasing intensity of land use and the alarming and growing issue of marine debris and its impacts.

As yet there is no comprehensive and integrated information available to quantify the condition and health trends of the marine environment, which makes reporting on resource condition improvement a challenge.

The Marine Program aims to assist in addressing these issues through investment in research projects in partnership with marine resource managers and researchers, whom we engage as contractors, and through advice and support for both resource managers and volunteers working to improve the marine environment.

Clients, stakeholders and engagement approach

Primary clients of the Marine program are the state agency managers of the natural resources of the marine environment: NSW Department of Primary Industries, and Department of Environment and Climate Change (including the Marine Parks Authority). Stakeholders include the NSW Department of Lands, coastal Aboriginal organisations, and users of the natural resources of the marine environment including marine industry groups such as commercial fishers as well as recreational fishers, boaters, surfers, divers, and tourism operators.

Provision of financial incentives through Marine Program investment projects is a critical means of engaging Marine resource managers and researchers. We also engage these stakeholders through on-site visits, meetings, workshops and conferences, as well as by using electronic media.