| Why
Conserve Our Marine Environment
Australia's
Unique South
Australia
is well known for its spectacular tropical coral reefs,
such as Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and the Great
Barrier Reef in Queensland.
| The
reefs of southern temperate Australia are also
truly unique. Australia's long south-facing coastline
means we have a huge temperate (or cold water)
marine environment.
Australia's
many millions of years of geographical isolation
means our reefs and marine environment have developed
in response to an uncommon combination of environmental
forces. |
|
Not
surprisingly, the marine life of southern Australia
contain a multitude of species found nowhere else on
earth. While coral reefs support a huge variety of fish
species, it is the temperate southern areas that support
a greater diversity of marine life (especially flora
and invertebrate fauna). Researchers call this region
Australia's Unique South.
The
unique flora and fauna of SA's marine environment
| Consider
these facts: 85% of the temperate fish species,
95% of the species of molluscs and 90% of the
species of sea stars or sea urchins (echinoderms)
are unique to temperate Australia. Huge ranges
of sea squirts (ascidians) are also found, with
189 species recorded. Many of these species are
reef dwellers at some stage of their life cycle.
As a comparison in the tropics, where many species
tend to disperse more widely, only 13% of fish
species, 10% of molluscs and 13% of echinoderms
are unique to the region.
In
Southern waters 1100 species of red algae described
so far represent 25% of the world's total, with
75% of them being unique to our region. |
|
Ecosystem
services carried out by the marine environment
| There
are many reasons to protect our natural environment
on aesthetic or compassionate grounds. However,
what many people are not so aware of is the fact
that natural ecosystems carry out a number of
different tasks without which, our lives would
become very difficult!
Ecosystem
services can be loosely defined as all the activities
and functions that an ecosystem performs naturally.
In particular the near shore oceanic environment
provides us with food and other resources while
at the same time absorbing many of our waste products
including sewerage and other pollutants.
The
range of services carried out by marine ecosystems
is too extensive to cover here, however a recent
South
Australian Government report attempted to
put a dollar value on ecosystem services and drew
the following conclusion...
The
estimated value of ecosystem services carried
out by marine communities within South Australian
waters was in excess of 24.5 billion dollars per
year! |
 |
$24,500,000,000
A
large proportion of this is services carried out by
reef and seagrass communities. These services are carried
out by our marine environment free of charge and often
without our knowledge.
Oceans
under threat
Despite
the immense value of our oceans, they are very poorly
understood and hence equally poorly managed. Unlike
land where title deeds exist for every square metre,
the oceans are largely free and are seen as a common
resource. While this lack of ownership is refreshing,
it has also left the oceans open to exploitation.
Problems
associated with activities such as over fishing
and pollution have been echoed around the world
for many years, yet Australia appears to insist
on now repeating those same mistakes! If we are
to avoid this fate then we must take immediate action
to preserve these natural resources.
Intelligent management underpinned by sound knowledge
and the support of the community is essential for
the long term sustainable development of our nation.
|
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Reef
Watch is a way of enabling the community to become involved
in this process. Our monitoring program is based on
sound scientific principles and is designed to contribute
directly to the knowledge base for temperate marine
ecosystems. Our educational initiatives disseminate
this information to the wider community, encouraging
managers and policy makers to make more informed decisions.
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