The need to report on the ecologically sustainable use of marine systems, that have been ‘zoned’ at a variety of spatial and temporal scales is gaining considerable support in Australia and world-wide. MPAs and other spatial management arrangements are being introduced in most Australian management jurisdictions through the NRSMPA process and at the Commonwealth level through Regional Marine Planning under Oceans Policy. Clearly, spatial management, particularly expressed as MPAs, is here to stay. For example FRDC suggests that nations will set targets such as 20% of the coastal zone for high degrees of protection through MPAs (FRDC R&D Plan 2000-2005).

The objectives of MPAs are usually to achieve ESD for the regional ecosystem and for the various sectoral users of the ecosystem. For example, the benefits to fisheries are often listed to be to increase the spawning biomass, to act as an insurance policy against fishery management errors, to protect critical habitats to damp ecosystem wide fluctuatons and to provide reference sites to be used in fishery resource assessments. However, while some studies have shown that the harvesting regimes for specific areas within a system can change biomass, density, size of organisms, quality of habitats and species diversity, the causes of the extent and nature of these changes at various spatial and temporal scales impedes the selection of performance indicators.

The use of MPAs is a relatively new approach to marine management and is at a very early stage of development. For example the use of other management tools includes the use of performance assessment and the triggering of management responses under different circumstances. In fisheries this is commonly through the periodic review of catch or fishing effort levels in relation to stock condition. The policy descriptions of the use of MPAs and spatial management, for example in Oceans Policy also makes reference to the use of such adaptive management, but the methodology to enable and guide this has not net been developed. This was highlighted at the recent World Congress on Aquatic Protected Areas and FRDC’s workshop on R & D priorities where it was clear that the current state of the science limits the ability for performance assessment.

It is not yet clear under what circumstances specific areas within large systems contribute to the system as a whole, and the way in which large system behaviour influences areas within it . Globally spatial area management, as illustrated by MPAs, is receiving considerable attention as ‘new’ tool to control over-exploitation of fish stocks (eg Pauly et al 2002). In a recent review Ward et al (2000) state that there are “...very few examples where benefits to a fishery (as opposed to the closed area ) have been well studied and documented”. Similar conclusions are being drawn in other reviews currently appearing (e.g. Halpern in press). Socio-economic impacts are even less well studied (Sanchirico 2000).

Without such performance assessment managers and resource users may become locked into sub-optimal management arrangments, and if MPAs and other area management arrangements are not working as intended then achieving goals such as Ecologically Sustainable Development may be unknowingly at risk. Consequently, even with objectives that are clearly defined and agreed by all stakeholders, the most challenging work still remains as how to evaluate performance.

Victoria is committed to range of activities to ensure marine systems are managed for ecological sustainability. Recent initiative include reforms to the management of abalone, rock lobster and the establishment of marine protected areas, these together with National Oceans Office planning for the South-East Region, provides a major opportunity for this work to be undertaken. In addition, the NOO have identified integrating fisheries spatial management and MPAs as an action in the South East Regional Marine Plan.

This project does not address whether or not there should be MPAs rather it is designed to develop an effective means to assess the performance of the system and the MPA within it. We will build on previous work but more importantly extend the scope to include fishery ecosystem considerations as well as direct impacts on target species and biodiversity.