ESTUARINE ISSUES FROM THE MANAGER'S VIEWPOINT

							ESTUARINE ISSUES FROM
THE MANAGER'S VIEWPOINT
R.H. Winstanley
Marine Science Laboratories, Department of Conservation and Environment
PO Box 114
Queenscliff VIC 3225




Introduction                                              In the fields of fisheries management (an'
                                                     here I include aquatic conservation), the man-
The ecological value of estuaries and their im-
                                                     ager is the link between the scientists and the
portance to fisheries have been appreciated for
                                                     politicians in the decision-making and planning
many years. So too has the array of fishing and
                                                     processes.
environmental factors-in the estuaries, their
catchments and adjacent coastal waters-that               This can be a difficult place to be in any
impacts on estuarine fish stocks and ecosys-         field. It is a difficult place to be in fisheries
tems. Long before the term "ecologically sus-        management. It is a particularly difficult place
tainable development" was coined, the concept        to be in relation to estuaries where the range of
of "ecological sustainability" of estuaries and      competing interests and pressures operating on
their fish resources was well established amongst    the fish resources and their habitats are so
management agencies, fishers and the wider           numerous and complex.
community.
                                                          In this environment, manager must ensure
     From a background where the focus was on        that research effort is focused on the critical
theexploited fish stocks, management attention       long term and short term information-gathering
has shifted towards managing fisheries in the        programs.
broader context of estuarine living resource
                                                          Without understanding the continuing dif-
conservation. Clearly, this can only be achieved
                                                     ficulties, there are a number of factors which
through understanding the ecological linkages
                                                     have changed in a way that promises real hope
between fish stocks and estuarine habitats and
                                                     that the ecological basis for estuarine fish stock
the impacts of polluting and disturbing factors
                                                     conservation will be achieved.
on those habitats and stocks.
     In the past, all ofthisoften seemed too hard,
the information base too small and the ecologi-
                                                     Where are we today?
calenormity ofthe task toodaunting. Thepoliti-
cal balance appeared too heavily weighted in         Karen Edyvane has outlined the various factors
favour of commercial activities and economic         which impact on estuarine (and other) habitats
development goals, most of which are funda-          and, over the next two days, we will hear of the
mentally incompatible with the long term main-       importance of estuarine fish stocks and habi-
tenance of estuary habitats and fish stocks.         tats, so I will not detail them here.


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    In the 1990s, we are mainly dealing with             In many instances, the EIS and planning
highly modified estuaries. This situation arises    processes are taking place without early input
from:                                               from aquatic resource managers. As our keynote
                                                    speaker has already pointed out, we must be-
    our history, which saw estuaries andmarine
                                                    come more assertive and proactive and commu-
    embayments as the sites of our earliest
                                                    nicate our message more effectively to ensure
    settlements, and the intensification of
                                                    that estuarine fish and habitat conservation is-
    population concentrations and associated
                                                    sues are placed firmly on the agenda of all of the
    aquatic impacts ever since; and
                                                    agencies involved in these processes.
    the fact that estuaries are where the impacts
                                                         We are often constrained by problems of
    of mismanagement in the catchments and
                                                    overlapping and fragmented jurisdictions and
    hinterland converge.
                                                    responsibilities, and the absence of clear overall
     In addition, while those of us in fisheries    aquatic conservation strategic plans; this applies
agencies have been attending to long-standing       at both state/territory and federal levels. Some-
problems, we have been overtaken by new             times, we are further constrained by deficient
factors such as the deliberate development and      legislation which does not provide the powers
usage of products (e.g. tributyl tin antifouling    needed to underpin effective habitat protection.
paints) and industries (e.g. ecotourism) and the
                                                         For example, in Victoria, we have the Fish-
inadvertent spreading of exotic organisms. In
                                                    eries Act providing the powers for commercial
some cases, introduced organisms have come
                                                    and recreational fisheries management; we have
to dominate estuarine communities; in other
                                                    the Flora and FaunaGuarantee Act providing the
instances, exotic toxic algae have threatened
                                                    powers to protect designated species or commu-
aquaculture and shellfish harvesting industries.
                                                    nities from threatening processes; we have the
     Consequently, fisheries managers have          Environment Protection Act providing the pow-
struggled to achieve the proper recognition and     ers to maintain water quality standards; and we
effective conservation of estuarine habitats.       have the National Parks and Land Acts provid-
                                                    ing the powers to manage public land. However,
    We lack basic information on:
                                                    there is a large hole in this legislative combina-
    the ecology of fish species at every stage of   tion which severely limits our broad marine and
    their life history;                             estuarine conservation powers.
    the critical habitat requirements of these           In short, fisheries and aquatic conservation
    stages;                                         managers frequently lack both the information
                                                    and the authority to properly protect the fish and
    the distributing or polluting factors which
                                                    aquatic habitats for which they are responsible.
    impact or threaten to impact on those
    habitats.                                            Too often, managers and interest groups
                                                    have been preoccupied with symptoms rather
     This has weakened our ability toput credible
                                                    than causes of fish habitat problems. In some
and successful cases toensure that development
                                                    instances, anglers push artificial reef proposals
activities proceed in ways that d o not
                                                    while agencies struggle to protect threatened
compromise estuarine fish stocks and habitats.
                                                    productive natural reef habitats.
The onus of proof in Environmental Impact
Statements (EIS) and related planningprocesses           Too often, governments are facing up to
continues to fall on aquatic resource managers-     problems only when they have deteriorated to
not on developers.                                  crisis point, for example:



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    the recent focus on national blue-green              involve all interested agencies and groups;
    algal blooms in inland andestuarine waters;
                                                         are supported by legislation.
    improvements to Sydney's sewage
                                                         As an aside, it is interesting to note that what
    treatment and disposal;
                                                    has been happening nationally is mirrored in this
    responses to public health scares over          Society: the shift from a focus on fin-fish and
    Georges River oysters.                          their biology, to a wider range of aquatic species,
                                                    to fisheries issues, and now to fish and aquatic
     Ineach case, the problems have been known
                                                    habitat conservation-hence this workshop!
for years. In insiances like the current plan for
                                                    Clearly, this professional society has a signifi-
treating the eutrophicationproblems of the Peel-
                                                    cant role to play in leading agencies, govern-
Harvey Inlet, the costs of belated treatment of
                                                    ments and community responses to these issues.
the symptoms are huge.
     Fisheries managers still face the widespread
and dangerous misconceptionthat, provided we        Wider community responses
establish representativeMarine Protected Areas
and protect designated threatened species and       On a wider front, there are a number of promis-
communities, we are doing a thorough job of         ing signs.
habitat conservation.                                    We have noted the upsurge in community
                                                    concern about marine and estuarine conserva-
                                                    tion issues in the last few years.
Government responses                                     Commercial fishing industry organisations
In the face of these challengesand impediments,     are moving away from reacting to specific envi-
state and territory fisheries agencies have in-     ronmental issues (e.g. coastal discharges, pulp
creasingly focused resources on estuarine habi-     and paper mill proposals) towards proactive
tat research and management programs. For           campaigning forfish habitat protection. In NSW,
example, the NSW Fisheries biennial report of       the industry has established Ocean Watch to
fisheries indicates a large commitment to this      advise it and to act as its advocate on marine
area during the 1989-199 1 period.                  conservation issues. Similarly, the Queensland
                                                    Commercial Fishermen's Organisation has en-
    Increasingly, fisheries agencies are giving     gaged professional assistance to promote fish
prominence to aquatic habitat protection as a       habitat protection, particularly in estuaries.
cornerstone of their corporate plans (e.g. SA
Department of Fisheries) and strategic research          Recreational Fisheries bodies are increas-
plans (e.g. ~ ~ ~ ' ~ l s h e r i e s ) .           ingly taking an active part in water and land
                                                    management reviews and in marine and estua-
      To assist with planning and management at     rine planning processes.
all levels of government,informationand guide-
lines for the conservation of estuarine habitats
are being produced.
                                                    Broad strategic planning frameworks
    Managing agencies are producing estuary-
                                                    We should take further encouragement from the
specific management plans which:
                                                    increased attention to broad marine and coastal
    recognise the full range of community ben-      strategic planning.
    efits arising from the estuaries;
                                                        For example, at a national level, the Ocean
    consider the cumulative impacts of pollut-      Rescue 2000 program and Resource Assessment
    ing and disturbing factors;                     Commission coastal zone enquiry will provide a

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broad framework for the future of marine con-
servation and coastal management planning.
    At the state level, the Victorian Land Con-
servation Council, a public land management
planning body, is preparing a strategic planning
framework for coastal management and marine
conservation in Victoria.
     The promise of the national Ecologically
Sustainable Development program is that it will
encourage and lock in all levels of government
andall areas ofpublic and private enterprise into
a set of principles that place due emphasis on the
conservation of estuarine resources.
     If we look at current national initiatives in
areas such as Landcare, salinity control and
catchment management, we see references to
"holistic approaches", "whole ecosystem man-
agement" and "total catchment management".
This indicates that there is a widespread conver-
gence occurring in the mindset and goals of all
those involved in the usage and management of
natural resources across Australia. By adopting
proactive strategies, fisheries managers should
be able to capitalise on the momentum of this
movement to make new allies in addressing the
task of protecting fish habitat.
     In conclusion, many people are sceptical
and these current aquatic and wider conserva-
tion initiatives may prove to be mainly
rhetoric-or passing fads. We must recognise
that no habitat protection policies and strategies
can be relied upon to have the desired effect if
they are based on inadequate knowledge or if
they lack total commitment by all parties.




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