Incorporating marine turtle habitats into the marine protected area design for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Marine turtle habitats were considered in the design of the new zoning network for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as part of the Representative Areas Programme. One of the specific design guidelines developed was the incorporation of marine turtle inter-nesting and foraging habitats into the overall network of no-take areas. The guideline was refined further for individual nesting and foraging sites to incorporate all very high priority nesting sites and to incorporate 20% of each identified foraging site, respectively. Marine turtle inter-nesting habitat increased in no-take area protection from 781 km2 to 1 886 km2 (23.4% to 56.5% of all identified sites); marine turtle foraging habitat increased in no-take area protection from 3 063 km2 to 12 490 km2 (7.1% to 29.1% of all identified sites). Although the nesting and foraging principles were not achieved in total for all identified marine turtle sites, overall the level of protection afforded by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003 increased for nearly all marine turtle sites identified. Additionally, other activities (e.g. water quality, fisheries, traditional use of marine resources) occurring in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park that may impact upon marine turtles are being addressed via other mechanisms.