Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture ...

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Version Author Authority Comment MPA response Rev0 Rev0 Rev0 Oceanica Oceanica Oceanica OEPA OEPA OEPA event that the MEPA EQG are exceeded. � Oceanica is confident that the monitoring program included in the EMMP does not compromise the ability to determine whether the EQOs have been met, and believes that this should be the most important consideration when assessing the suitability of a monitoring program. Agreed changes to the EMMP OEPA and MPA agreed to the following compromise: water quality sampling sites to be located in MEPA for monitoring of dissolved biologically nutrients (Nitrate & Nitrite, Ammonia, DIN and Orthophosphate). Sediment quality sampling sites to be located in the HEPA and MaxEPA for monitoring of redox discontinuity. The EMMP should make it clear that the HEPA and MaxEPA sampling sites are located just outside MEPA and HEPA boundary. The agreed changes to the sampling regime required development of EQS for each of the ecological protection zones. For the MEPA water quality monitoring program, EQS were developed in the context of the organisms most likely to be adversely affected in that zone. In the absence of coral and mangrove communities, the organisms most likely to be affected are marine invertebrates at the sediment/water interface. The EQS was therefore developed in the context of dissolved oxygen availability. A similar approach was adopted with regard to the redox discontinuity criterion in the HEPA and MaxEPA zones. The rationale was that an exceedance of the EQS in the High and/or MaxEPA zones would indicate potentially unacceptable effects to marine invertebrates, including to coral and mangrove communities. It is therefore considered that the EQS for sediment monitoring in the High and MaxEPA zones is generally protective of marine organisms, and is thus an appropriate indicator for assessing whether the EQO has been met. MPA response See arguments for OEPA Comment 4 provided above. Agreed changes to the EMMP MEPA Water quality EQG and HEPA and MaxEPA sediment quality EQG to be included in the EMMP. MPA response Oceanica notes that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlined EPA (2005b) is relevant to toxicants in sediments, and that there are no EPA procedures for sampling of nutrients in sediments. However, in recognition of the considerable variability in sediment characteristics, Oceanica recommends that the EMMP is updated to include specific methods, including details of the level of replication. Agreed changes to the EMMP OEPA agreed that each replicate sample could be comprised of three cores but it must be clear in the EMMP. Section Error! Reference source not found. of the EMMP has been updated to provide more detail regarding sediment sampling methods, including MPAs intention to collect five cores at each site (i.e. two more than agreed upon). However, given the number of sites included in the program, it was not considered necessary to collect replicate samples at each site. This is consistent with the approach outlined on p 63 of the SOP (EPA 2005b). MPA response Agreed. Agreed changes to the EMMP All Tables and Figures have been updated in the revised EMMP to reflect the changes.
Version Author Authority Comment MPA response Rev0 Rev1-2 Rev3 Rev3 Oceanica Oceanica Oceanica Oceanica OEPA OEPA OEPA OEPA (Written) Comments received from EPA on EMMP Rev3 MPA response � The effects of shading (as potentially indicated by measures of TSS) pose low risk to MPB communities (the major constituent of the MEPA), but higher risk to coral communities (located in the HEPA and MaxEPA). Any increase in levels of shading in the HEPA and MaxEPA will be detected as a decrease in light attenuation (included as part of the WQ monitoring program). � Total nitrogen and TKN result in near identical measures of N. TN includes the nitrate and nitrite component of TN which has been shown to represent 1/1000th of the N fraction. There is therefore negligible benefit in choosing one measure over the other; however, note that TKN has been shown to be a more effective measure when organic content is high. � It is acknowledged that organic matter build-up in the sediments may be reflected in measures of TOC. Elevated levels of TOC may act to deoxygenate sediments, thus impacting marine invertebrate fauna. The MPA sediment quality monitoring program includes measures of water/sediment interface DO and unionised ammonia. These measures serve as a proxy measures for organic matter build-up in sediments. � Measures of total phosphorus are already included in the EMMP. Agreed changes to the EMMP Although the OEPA suggested these parameters were important indicators of organic enrichment they are not crucial for the approval of the EMMP so these issues are to be addressed at a later date. Minor editorial changes. MPA response The discussion in the EMMP is restricted to habitats and other elements (i.e. water quality) included in the marine monitoring program. MPA response Agreed. Section 2.3 (previously 2.3) includes sediment quality as a relevant environmental factor. MPA response Geo-referenced benthic habitat surveys were conducted in Cone Bay between the 21 and 24 October 2011. Surveys focussed on habitats along the southern coast of Cone Bay, where MPA aquaculture activities are presently centred. Surveys were also conducted along the northern coast of Cone Bay. Surveys comprised multiple towed video transects, encompassing 47 transects within the licence area, and a further 41 transects outside of the licence area. The revised EMMP includes a geo-referenced aerial photograph showing the position of individual video transects and the extent and type of habitat observed along the transects. This is a DRAFT habitat map, but it nevertheless provides an accurate assessment. The final ground-truthed map will be updated to include extrapolated habitat types based on image analysis and ground-truthed data.
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Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay
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Client: Marine Produce Australia Re
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Contents 1.� Purpose of this docu
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List of Figures Figure 1.1� Locat
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Table 1.1 Environmental Values and
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In addition to the Conditions and C
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Note: The habitats shown above are
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2.3.1 Site selection Aquaculture ca
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3. Environmental Objectives 3.1 Bes
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4. Marine Monitoring Program Fish-f
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the bottom of the water column. Sta
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Table 4.2 EQG for water quality EQG
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Table 4.3 EQS for water quality EQS
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4.2 Sediment quality monitoring 4.2
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Table 4.5 EQG for sediments EQG Ind
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4.3 Coral reef monitoring 4.3.1 Obj
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Indicator Light attenuation Chlorop
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4.4 Sediment infauna monitoring 4.4
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Indicator Zone of Ecological Protec
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4.5 Biota monitoring and management
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5. Marine Environmental Management
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Monitor Are�any�sea-cages�wit
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sample median calculated. However,
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EQG�(i)�or�(ii)� exceeded T
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5.4.2 Movement of stock Movement or
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7. Stakeholder Consultation 7.1 Det
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8. Additional information Additiona
Page 60 and 61: � Administer all prescribed medic
Page 62 and 63: Category Issue Consequence Likeliho
Page 65 and 66: 9. Acknowledgements This EMMP was p
Page 67 and 68: EPA (2008) Report and recommendatio
Page 69: Appendix A Ministerial Statement 79
Page 72 and 73: 2 Proponent Nomination and Contact
Page 74 and 75: 2. Within the zone of High Ecologic
Page 76 and 77: The Proposal (Assessment No. 1642)
Page 78 and 79: Figure 1: Zones of ecological prote
Page 81: Appendix B Method Statement: Geo-re
Page 84 and 85: Report No. OCEMPA001 Rev A Revision
Page 86 and 87: 1. Introduction Geo Oceans was comm
Page 88 and 89: efore smoothly decreasing to zero a
Page 90 and 91: Table 3 Data fields captured in the
Page 92 and 93: 3. Results A total of 27332 rows of
Page 94 and 95: Figure 3 Hard coral percent cover d
Page 96 and 97: Appendix 2: Video analysis substrat
Page 99: Proposed Seagrass, water quality an
Page 105: Appendix E Responses to comments re
Page 108 and 109: Version Author Authority Comment MP
Page 124: Version Author Authority Comment MP
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