Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture ...

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In addition to the Conditions and Commitments listed in Table 1.4, the Proponent has committed to the following actions. The actions are to be implemented as a condition of EMMP approval, with the proposed studies to support future revisions to the EMMP. Table 1.4 Additional actions and estimated completion dates Action Monitoring of trace elements in sediments Desktop study of the risks posed to wild fish from vaccinations and/or other treatments Study of the extent of spatial variability in sediment nutrient and TOC content Statistical power analysis of data on sediment infauna community composition Purpose To determine whether trace elements (particularly bioavailable metals) contained within aquaculture feeds are accumulating in sediments beneath and/or adjacent to the sea-cages. Results will be compared against the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) ISQG-low and ISQG-high trigger values. To determine whether vaccinations and/or other medications pose a risk to wild fish-fauna To determine whether the present level of sample replication is sufficient to derive meaningful estimates of nutrient and TOC concentrations To determine whether the present sampling design is a robust and suitable approach for application in Western Australia's north-west Estimated completion date Within 1-yr post implementation of the proposal, and then every three years thereafter Within 1-yr post implementation of the proposal Within 1-yr post implementation of the proposal Within 1-yr post implementation of the proposal 4 Oceanica: Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture, Environmental Monitoring & Management Plan
2. Background 2.1 Approvals history On 1 November 2005, Marine Produce Australia (the Proponent) received Department of Fisheries (DoF) approval (Aquaculture Licence 1465) to culture up to 1000 tonnes/annum (t/a) of Barramundi (Lates calcarifer). The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) deemed that the proposal required formal assessment in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act (1986), and set the level of assessment as Public Environmental Review (PER). The PER was submitted to the EPA in December 2007, and Ministerial approval granted on the 6 August 2009 (Ministerial Statement 798). On the 5 August 2011, MPA advised that it was seeking to expand operations from 1000 t/a to 2000 t/a. EPA advised it could assess a 2000 t/a proposal through an expedited process, and set the level of assessment as Assessment on Proponent Information (API). EPA further advised that it would consider a modified EMMP as the API document, with the expectation that the revised EMMP would accommodate the pressures associated with the expansion. 2.2 Benthic habitats of Cone Bay Geo-referenced benthic habitat surveys were conducted in Cone Bay between the 21 and 24 October 2011 (see Appendix B for detailed methods). 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. 2.2.1 Extent of habitats observed South-eastern Cone Bay The eastern end of Cone Bay was dominated by intermittent coral rubble, fine sands and patches of ephemeral seagrass (Halophila ovalis). H. ovalis was most abundant immediately south of Turtle Island and on the southern edge of Turtle Island. A large mangrove dominated inlet is situated approximately 2.3 km southeast of Turtle Island. The inlet, known as Snapper Cove, contributes plumes of turbid water to Cone Bay during outgoing tides (Figure 2.1). South-western Cone Bay The western end of Cone Bay was typical of fringing coral reefs (Figure 2.2): Moving seaward, habitats changed from mangroves (in some areas) to soft sediment, through increasing coverage of coral rubble to living coral, particularly at the fore reef slope. Fore reef habitats were characterised by a rapid increase in water depth (~8-13 m) over a relatively short distance (i.e. ~10 m). Habitats on the seaward side of the fore reef returned quickly to coral rubble followed by sediment dominated habitats. This was a pattern repeated almost ubiquitously along the western section of Cone Bay. Oceanica: Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture, Environmental Monitoring & Management Plan 5
Page 1: Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay
Page 5 and 6: Client: Marine Produce Australia Re
Page 7 and 8: Contents 1.� Purpose of this docu
Page 9: List of Figures Figure 1.1� Locat
Page 12 and 13: Table 1.1 Environmental Values and
Page 17: Note: The habitats shown above are
Page 20 and 21: 2.3.1 Site selection Aquaculture ca
Page 22 and 23: 3. Environmental Objectives 3.1 Bes
Page 24 and 25: 4. Marine Monitoring Program Fish-f
Page 26 and 27: the bottom of the water column. Sta
Page 28 and 29: Table 4.2 EQG for water quality EQG
Page 30 and 31: Table 4.3 EQS for water quality EQS
Page 32 and 33: 4.2 Sediment quality monitoring 4.2
Page 34 and 35: Table 4.5 EQG for sediments EQG Ind
Page 36 and 37: 4.3 Coral reef monitoring 4.3.1 Obj
Page 38 and 39: Indicator Light attenuation Chlorop
Page 40 and 41: 4.4 Sediment infauna monitoring 4.4
Page 42 and 43: Indicator Zone of Ecological Protec
Page 44 and 45: 4.5 Biota monitoring and management
Page 46 and 47: 5. Marine Environmental Management
Page 48 and 49: Monitor Are�any�sea-cages�wit
Page 50 and 51: sample median calculated. However,
Page 52 and 53: EQG�(i)�or�(ii)� exceeded T
Page 54 and 55: 5.4.2 Movement of stock Movement or
Page 56 and 57: 7. Stakeholder Consultation 7.1 Det
Page 58 and 59: 8. Additional information Additiona
Page 60 and 61: � Administer all prescribed medic
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9. Acknowledgements This EMMP was p
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EPA (2008) Report and recommendatio
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Appendix A Ministerial Statement 79
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2 Proponent Nomination and Contact
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2. Within the zone of High Ecologic
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The Proposal (Assessment No. 1642)
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Figure 1: Zones of ecological prote
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Appendix B Method Statement: Geo-re
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Report No. OCEMPA001 Rev A Revision
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1. Introduction Geo Oceans was comm
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efore smoothly decreasing to zero a
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Table 3 Data fields captured in the
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3. Results A total of 27332 rows of
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Figure 3 Hard coral percent cover d
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Appendix 2: Video analysis substrat
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Proposed Seagrass, water quality an
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Appendix E Responses to comments re
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Version Author Authority Comment MP
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