Carter, Alex, and Rasheed, Michael (2013) Critical marine habitats in high risk areas: Bathurst Bay region: 2012 atlas. Report. TropWATER, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

The ports and shipping industry is an essential part of Australia's trade and underpins the viability of many of Australia's import and export industries. In Queensland, shipping is a major use of Great Barrier Reef waters. Over 3500 ships make more than 9500 voyages each year in Great Barrier Reef waters, accounting for an estimated $17 billion of Australia's export trade (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 2009).

Between 1985 and 2008 as many as five major shipping incidents occurred per year in the Great Barrier Reef, such as vessel groundings or collisions, which required a significant response (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 2009). Designated shipping lanes have been developed in many areas of Queensland to provide a means for large vessels to safely traverse the Great Barrier Reef and to access ports. The majority of these ships use the Inner Shipping Route, which passes through economically and ecologically important habitats and areas containing significant navigation hazards. In these areas there is a heightened risk of shipping accidents including collisions and vessel groundings that may result in oil, fuel and chemical spills. Marine habitats such as seagrass and algae meadows, coral reefs, and oyster beds are vulnerable to oil and fuel spills as well as the dispersants used to treat such spills. Habitats in the intertidal zone are particularly susceptible to spills. However, in many instances detailed information on the marine habitats that occur adjacent to these shipping lanes is lacking.

Queensland Transport and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority completed an oil spill and shipping accident risk assessment for Queensland's coastal waters and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in 2000 (Queensland Transport and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 2000). Six marine environments were identified as high risk areas (MEHRAs) for Queensland's shipping lanes and ports, where there was a heightened risk of accidents as well as heightened consequences of an accident. The six MEHRAs identified in the risk assessment were:

1. Prince of Wales Channel (Torres Strait)

2. Great North East Channel (Torres Strait)

3. Inner Shipping Route between Cape Flattery and Torres Strait

4. Whitsunday Islands and Passages

5. Hydrographers Passage

6. Moreton Bay

This atlas focuses on the Bathurst Bay region, which lies just north of Cape Flattery within the Inner Shipping Route (ISR) MEHRA. This atlas continues on from surveys conducted in 2011 in the Princess Charlotte Bay region, also in the ISR MEHRA (Carter et al. 2012). The detailed information collected on the location and classification of habitat types will be included in the Geographic Information System (GIS) database for the Oil Spill Response Atlas (OSRA), an important resource to aid decision-making and emergency response to shipping accidents and oil spills. Data presented in this atlas was obtained from surveys conducted in September 2012.

Item ID:	39678
Item Type:	Report (Report)
Keywords:	recovery, resilience, management, environmental monitoring, marine monitoring, marine water quality, seagrass, reproduction, seagrass habitats, Great Barrier Reef, port development, dredging
Additional Information:	Access: This report is openly accessible from the link to TropWATER's Technical Reports web page above. Copyright: Please refer to the copyright statement in the report.
Funders:	Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ)
Date Deposited:	26 Aug 2015 06:07
FoR Codes:	05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050206 Environmental Monitoring @ 50% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 50%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960507 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960503 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Coastal and Estuarine Environments @ 50%
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