NORMAC 45 agreed that as a high priority a pro-active approach to assessing the potential areas for designation as MPAs, and the impact of their potential designation on the fishery, would benefit the NPF. NORMAC also suggested that the NPF be offered as a trial fishery to test and refine the Environment Australia criteria, to demonstrate that a fishery is ecologically sustainable. The Commonwealth government is committed to setting up a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas throughout Australia's entire marine environment that will protect areas representative of all major ecological regions and the communities of plants and animals found there. It is in the interest of the NPF that this system is used as an opportunity to achieve sustained, and possibly increased returns from tiger prawn fishing and also to conserve biodiversity.

The outcomes of this project will assist NORMAC in meeting their responsibility to demonstrate that the NPF is an ecologically sustainable commercial fishery, under the Commonwealth Fisheries Management Act (1991), the new Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act (effective July 2000) and the Wildlife Protection (regulation of Exports and Imports) Acts 1982. Fisheries will be assessed to ensure that they are conducted in accordance with the EPBC Act and if they are not, their ability to export product could be threatened. It is, therefore, critical for NORMAC to evaluate its management strategies to ensure that they meet the requirements of the legislation. This proposal also addresses key research priorities of the benthic communities/physical impacts research area of the FRDC Effects of Trawling Sub-Program.

The results from the proposal contribute to the strategic directions of Environment Australia. In the short term, EA are looking at developing a proposal for a Marine Protected Area in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria. However, in the longer term, the results from this project on identifying different ecosystems, and modelling different management scenarios, will provide information for the selection process of MPA's in the Northern Prawn Fishery and on potential management strategies for conserving biodiversity values. This project will also provide information on methods for assessing the effectiveness of MPAs for conserving biodiversity.