Reef Research: Volume 6 No. 3 September 1996

REGIONAL MARINE RESOURCES
ADVISORY COMMITTEES ACTING LOCALLY

Deb Postle

egional Marine Resource Advisory Committees bring together all major groups with an interest in their local marine environment along the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The concept started in 1988, when, responding to a need for a community voice in marine management decisions and practices, a State Member of Parliament brought together a group of people in the Yeppoon community to establish the Capricornia Coast Area Fisheries Advisory Committee. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (Authority) recognised the value in the concept and established another ten groups called Regional Marine Resources Advisory Committees (RMRACs). These new committees cover the area from Bundaberg to Cooktown. As a result of this establishment, the Authority has been given an insight into the issues that affect these coastal communities. This has been an invaluable management tool for the Authority when considering the future planning needs of these areas.

POINT OF CONTACT

The RMRACs bring together local marine user groups such as local and other government agencies; commercial and recreational fishing groups; tourist operators; conservationists and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups. This ensures that broad cross sections from local communities are able to put forward their points of view at RMRAC meetings.

Subjects discussed are varied, reflecting local concerns and may cover anything from dugong, water quality concerns or fisheries issues. If the Authority needs feedback on local concerns about a particular issue that impacts upon the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, then the RMRACs are consulted for their views. Generally the Committees meet every six weeks. However, if there is a pressing need a special meeting may be called. The Committees are also very keen to learn more about the marine environment that they volunteer their time to conserve. Researchers and scientists are encouraged to talk to the Committees about their research findings.

RECENT WORKSHOP

A workshop recently brought together the Chairs and representatives from each of the RMRACs to clarify the roles and relationships between management agencies and the RMRACs and to establish procedural guidelines, as well as encouraging networking between RMRAC representatives. The workshop was opened by Dr Ian McPhail, Chair of the Authority. Dr McPhail spoke on the importance of two- way communication between the Authority and the RMRACs in maintaining the health of one of the few remaining large-scale healthy reef systems left in the Indo-Pacific region.

CURRENT STATUS

The northern Committees have been very active recently with the offshore Cairns planning in full swing - both Cairns and Port Douglas regions have established working groups which report back to the RMRAC on issues raised with the plans proposed for the area. This move to establish working groups has now set a precedent for other RMRACs to follow when dealing with specific issues that require a great deal of time to work through. Airlie Beach has successfully established a working group to look at best environmental practices at Bait Reef. Cooktown is now working on a planning exercise involving offshore reefs. This planning exercise in Cooktown, involving all affected user groups may become a template for all RMRACs to follow in order to respond to a proposed plan of management.

Ms Deb Postle, Project Officer in the Education/ Information section of the Authority, is the coordinator for all the RMRACs and is the main conduit to and from the Committees and the management agencies. The list below gives the contact for the Chair of each of the Committees to enable direct contact but Ms Postle may be contacted to discuss relevant issues.

1. Cooktown
Cooktown Region Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Ian McCollum, PO Box 300, Cooktown Qld 4871,
Phone (070) 69 5300

2. Port Douglas
Douglas Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Grahame Connett, PO Box 105, Port Douglas Qld 4871,
Phone (070) 99 5327, Fax (070) 99 5680

3. Cairns
Cairns Region Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Blue Bulling, PO Box 1777, Cairns Qld 4870,
Phone 019 774 281, Fax (070) 51 8493
Phone (070) 52 3819, Fax (070) 52 1493

4. Mission Beach
Mission Beach Region Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Dave Nissen, Mission Beach Road, Mission Beach Qld 4854,
Phone (070) 68 8137, Fax (070) 68 8429

5. Ingham
Hinchinbrook Region Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Bill Whiteman, PO Box 14, Cardwell Qld 4816,
Phone (070) 66 8270, Fax (070) 66 8271

6. Townsville
Townsville Region Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Mike Reynolds, c/- James Cook University, Townsville Qld 4811,
Phone (077) 81 4221, Fax (077) 81 5176

7. Airlie Beach
Whitsunday Coastal Advisory Committee
Chair: Tony Fontes, PO Box 180, Airlie Beach Qld 4802,
Phone (079) 46 7435, Fax (079) 46 5194

8. Mackay
Mackay Regional Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Serge DePinto, 44 Macalister Street, Mackay Qld 4740,
Phone (079) 51 1244, Fax (079) 57 2095

9. Yeppoon
Capricornia Fisheries Advisory Committee
Chair: Mike Prior, c/- 21 Stevenson Street, Yeppoon Qld 4703,
Phone (079) 39 1838, Fax (079) 39 3290

10. Gladstone
Gladstone Region Marine Resources Advisory Committee
Chair: Neil Bennett, 6 Birmingham Close, Gladstone Qld 4680,
Phone (079) 72 3966, Fax (079) 72 3167

11. Bundaberg
Bundaberg & the Coral Isles Marine Park Advisory Committee
Chair: Carl Moller, 27 Sinclair Street, Bundaberg Qld 4670

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Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
PO Box 1379 TOWNSVILLE QLD 4810. Phone: (077) 500 700, Fax: (077) 726 093
E-mail: registry@gbrmpa.gov.au