Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture ...

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4.3 Coral reef monitoring 4.3.1 Objectives The aim of the coral reef monitoring plan (CRMP) is to meet the EPA objective for protection of benthic primary producer habitats as per EPA Environmental Assessment Guideline No. 3 (EPA 2009). The EPA's environmental objective for BPPHs is to protect BPPHs from developments that may cause irreversible loss or serious damage to BPPHs (EPA 2009). Gilmour et al. (2007) describes several sub-lethal indicators of coral health that may be used to infer early signs of stress in coral communities. The indicators, which are based on the effects of dredging (i.e. elevated TSS and decreases in LAC), can be assessed qualitatively or semi-quantitatively. Indicators based on coral mucous and pigmentation have been chosen for inclusion in the EMMP. The indicators are to be used in conjunction with other lines of evidence (i.e. parametric analysis of TSS and LAC between coral impact and coral reference sites) to measure potential for adverse effects to corals. 4.3.2 Responsibility Coral reef system management shall be the responsibility of the Proponent (MPA). The work may be delegated to a nominated third party to undertake on behalf of the Proponent. 4.3.3 Timing The CRMP will be implemented as soon as reasonably practicable upon exceedance of the corresponding water quality EQG for TSS, LAC and/or chlorophyll-a (Table 4.7). 4.3.4 Sampling regime Site selection Nine coral monitoring sites have been established: three potential impact locations, all located within the high ecological protection area, and six reference sites located around the Razor Islands (Figure 4.1). GPS coordinates for the coral sites are provided in Appendix C. Sampling method To mitigate risks associated with crocodiles, field methods will be developed to capture images of coral from a vessel. At each site, a high resolution digital camera will be lowered at n=10 randomly generated distances along a 20 m transect. The camera will be mounted on a frame such that the distance between the camera and the coral habitat is controlled. The extent of coral mucous coverage will be determined qualitatively, by assigning indices of relative coverage: 1 = no visible mucous 2 = light mucous (75%). The extent of pigmentation will be determined using semi-quantitative methods developed by the Coral Watch program http://www.coralwatch.org/web/guest. The Coral Watch program uses a colour-coded card to assess the level of pigmentation from normal (healthy) through to bleached (severely impacted) (Figure 4.4). Each colour square corresponds to a concentration of symbionts in the coral tissue, with the concentration of symbionts directly linked to the health of the coral. It is recommended that the coral health card is secured to the inside corner of the frame such that the card is in the camera's field of view. This will mitigate any ambiguity that may be caused by image brightness and/or contrast. 26 Oceanica: Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture, Environmental Monitoring & Management Plan
How to use the Coral Health Chart 1. Select a coral 2. Ensure the image captures the lightest area, avoiding the tips of branching corals. 3. Compare the colour chart with the selected area 4. Record the matching colour code along with coral type on the data sheet 5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for the darkest area of the coral 6. Continue survey with other corals Figure 4.4 Coral health chart developed by the Coral Watch program 4.3.5 Environmental Quality Criteria Monitoring against the EQG will proceed on an annual basis. Monitoring associated with the EQS will proceed only upon exceedance of the relevant EQG. Environmental Quality Guidelines The EQG for coral reef system health are outlined in Table 4.7. For details on how to interpret the EQG, Table 4.7 EQG for coral reef monitoring Indicator TSS (LOI) Moderate Zone of Ecological Protection High Maximum* (i) Median organic fraction of TSS calculated from pooled sites, on each sampling occasion, must be less than the 80%ile or 95%ile of Reference Site data*, or (ii) Median organic fraction of TSS over a four month period, at any site, must be less than the 80%ile or 95%ile of Reference Site data* (i) Median organic fraction of TSS calculated from pooled sites, on each sampling occasion, must be less than the 80%ile of Reference Site data, or (ii) Median organic fraction of TSS over a four month period, at any site, must be less than the 80%ile of Reference Site data (i) Median organic fraction of TSS calculated from pooled sites, on each sampling occasion, must be less than the 70%ile of Reference Site data, or (ii) Median organic fraction of TSS over a four month period, at any site, must be less than the 70%ile of Reference Site data Oceanica: Marine Produce Australia: Cone Bay Barramundi Aquaculture, Environmental Monitoring & Management Plan 27
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 14 and 15: In addition to the Conditions and C
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 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
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
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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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