Far Northern Area Plan

Whitesundays Plan

The release of the draft plans provides a further opportunity for interest groups to comment on and address concerns to managers to ensure a satisfactory consultative process and mutually acceptable outcomes.

The final draft of the Whitsundays Plan of Management, a collaborative effort between the Authority, the Queensland Department of Environment (DoE) and the Whitsunday Coastal Advisory Committee (WCAC), was released on 3 December with the aim of protecting and conserving the region's natural assets while satisfying the needs of all interest groups.

Increasing use of the area has managers and interest groups concerned about the impact on the area's unique natural and cultural values.

The Whitsunday Islands are world renowned for the tourist resorts located amongst magnificent densely forested islands and fringing coral reefs.

However, few visitors are aware that the Whitsundays area is a critical calving ground for humpback whales, many of the islands are regionally important bird rookeries, and other sites, such as Hill Inlet, contain natural values and cultural sites of significance.

The area is extremely important for scientific reasons also because one of the corals (Goniastrea sp.) found in Double Bay has been found no where else in the world and the reef fringing Deloraine Island is an important location for a rare sponge (Rhabderemia sorokinae).

'Evidence of these impacts is seen in anchor damage to coral reefs and damage to dune vegetation in some of the popular destinations,' Mr McGinnity said.

'The new plan will allow us to counteract and control these impacts.'

In addition to protecting the natural and cultural values of the Whitsundays, the plan will have many benefits for users of the area.

The plan recognises the limits on sustainable use of the area and regulates the number of vessels, boat size and numbers of users allowed into the area at any one time.

These limits are set in the plan which means visitors will continue to have the opportunity to experience a healthy and beautiful part of the Great Barrier Reef.

Provisions that have been included in the plan also mean the Authority and the DoE can introduce a new, simplified licensing system for tourism operators.

The new licensing system gives recognition to tourist operators who have established regular use of the Whitsundays and provides them with greater flexibility to vary their style or size of operation.

Under the new system operators will no longer have to apply to change their permits when they want to upgrade their vessel, increase the number of passengers they carry or venture into a new area.

'As long as they conform with the management plan there will be no need for this arduous procedure,' Mr McGinnity said.

'By having a recognisable group of operators who regularly use the area we will be able to work with them much more closely to identify the best practices for managing the area.

'Also our management staff will not have to spend so much time administering a complex permit system. This will allow more attention to be directed into other management strategies such as the installation of public moorings, education and monitoring programs.'

Another outcome of the planning process has been the development of a better awareness of cultural sites and issues by managers and the community.

The local Aboriginal community is represented on the Whitsunday Coastal Advisory Committee and has also achieved better coordination with Marine Parks by the appointment of Aboriginal rangers who work with the DoE.

'The involvement of Aboriginal people in management of the area has increased dramatically,' Mr McGinnity said.

'Programs have been developed to look at cultural sites, and the local community has been able to get resources to compile their own information and pass it on. This increased involvement has come largely from the planning process.

'There is a need for good management in all areas and I think the plan has achieved that. There are a few issues which still need to be resolved but I'm confident that this will be achieved through the public review process.'

Nonetheless, there has been an expression of concern from recreational fishing groups in regard to specific sites of significance, such as Hill Inlet.

Chris Thomas, GBRMPA Planning Officer for Whitsunday, said the Authority supported the legitimate right of recreational fishers to access the area.

'In fact, one of the major objectives of the plan is to ensure that recreational users are catered for, and for example, not inadvertently displaced by increasing commercial use of the area,' Mr Thomas said.

However, there are a small number of sites such as Deloraine Island and Hill Inlet where additional management measures are required to ensure protection of unique and fragile natural and cultural values.

The Authority is aware that the proposed restrictions are of concern to recreational fishers, who have previously had unlimited access to these sites.

'We need to work closely with user groups over the next couple of months to finalise the types of access for appropriate management of these last few sites to ensure they are sustained for the future,' Mr Thomas said.

Consultation will continue until 16 February 1998 and interested parties are encouraged to obtain a copy of the plan from the GBRMPA or the DoE and submit any comments in writing by that date.

Further comments and written submissions are also encouraged for the draft Far Northern Section Zoning Plan which was released on 5 December 1997.

The draft plan was released in conjunction with DoE's draft zoning plan for the proposed Cape York Marine Park. Both proposals emphasise management of the Far Northern Section for its exceptionally high natural, cultural and wilderness values.

Senior Planning Officer for Far Northern Joan Phillips said it is clear from submissions made in the first stage of public consultation that the Far Northern Section is perceived as a very significant ecological area which has been protected by its remoteness and undeveloped adjacent coastline.

'A Wilderness Area zone overlay has been put in place to limit intensive, large-scale tourism and associated infrastructure in most of the Section, while encouraging a range of opportunities for low level nature-based tourism, in response to the public submissions,' Ms Phillips said.

The overlay will maintain low level impacts in order to conserve the pristine and remote nature of the region but it will exclude certain inshore areas which are potential nodes of activity or are already developed.

Special habitats will be protected to maintain conservation of threatened species, commercially and recreationally important species, biological diversity and scientific interest. Foremost is the protection of seagrass meadows, algal beds and coral reefs.

'Seagrassbeds provide habitat for many species. For example they are important primary producers, therefore crucial in supporting the food web. Dugong and turtles rely on them for shelter and food and they are important nursery grounds for commercial prawn species and other marine fauna,' she said.

'Coral reefs and algal beds in the northern Great Barrier Reef are considered to be the richest and most pristine in the whole of the Great Barrier Reef system.'

One way to protect this diversity is to zone an area as National Park. The Far Northern Section already includes a large cross-shelf transect near Shelburne Bay. This transect, and the other existing National Park zoning, has been maintained in the new plan.

Although the Far Northern Section is reasonably well represented in the amount of area included in National Park zoning, scientific input and public submissions have highlighted some inadequacies in the current protection of some inshore areas.

The draft plan addresses this concern by proposing the re-zoning of four inshore areas identified which have particularly significant conservation values such as seagrass beds, fish and prawn nurseries, dugong habitats, shallow water ecosystems, and indigenous sites of significance.

It is proposed that these inshore areas, Lloyd Bay, Temple Bay, Bathurst Bay and the area inshore from Cliff Islands, be protected by National Park zoning.

'Some individual inshore fisheries will be affected by these changes and negotiation processes are in place to discuss the implementation of these proposed changes and the need to minimise hardship,' the Senior Planning Officer said.

'Other commercial fishing will operate under the already existing arrangements, with some additional access for pelagic fishing at a few reef sites by the inclusion of a 500 metre buffer zone from the reef edge.

'These changes accommodate the requests of fishers who have asked for access to troll for pelagic fish around those particular reefs.'

The Far Northern Section also contains the only inshore Preservation Zone in the Marine Park, between Wakooka Creek and Jeannie River near the southern boundary of the Section.

This area is an important dugong habitat and minor changes have been proposed to further protect the seagrass beds and to take into consideration cultural needs of the traditionally associated indigenous community.

'We recognise the connections and custodial rights of indigenous groups on the Cape and through the negotiation process we have become aware of many sites of cultural value,' Ms Phillips said.

'This draft plan identifies the intrinsic relationship indigenous people have with the marine environment and reflects indigenous interests in management proposals.'

The proposed changes to the Far Northern plan will be subject to ongoing consultations with user and interest groups and are open for public comment until 27 February 1998.