AMSA provided a submission on the South-east Marine Parks Network Management Plan 2023-2033.
AMSA asserts that current levels of protection in Australia generally, including in the south-east, are inadequate to adequately protect our marine estate and require substantial upgrading. The inability to date to assess the effectiveness of the SE Marine Park Network in meeting its biodiversity conservation objectives underscores the critical importance of adequately resourced monitoring and observations to future ability to assess effectiveness and to update management in response to emerging risks, impacts and needs. The MERI framework, if adequately resourced, represents a significant enabling-step towards an adaptive, integrated and place-based, management regime for the SE Marine Park Network.
Key needs for improving upon the 2013-2023 Plan in the 2023-2033 Plan include:
(i) explicit consideration of cumulative impacts, risk management and adaptive management
(ii) ensuring adequate resourcing of MERI activities, and (iii) developing stronger and more proactive partnerships with Indigenous land and sea managers.