Report of Workshops on integrated management of marine activities

The need for integration of management in relation to diverse marine activities is increasing. Without integration, different groups manage different activities inconsistently, there are conflicts from overlapping or competing activities, and there is no ability to consider the cumulative impacts of multiple activities. Further, and increasingly important, some form of integration of management will be required to deal effectively with climate change. However to date there has not been an agreed approach for Integrated Management (IM). In 2017 and 2018, a team of researchers associated with the Centre for Marine Socioecology (CSIRO and UTas) and partners (SARDI and DFO), collaborated to develop a framework for implementation and a ‘lens’ for evaluation of Integrated Management (IM). The research team then convened two workshops to test the framework with a broader group of subject matter experts, and to apply the lens to Australian IM case studies. The case studies included Gladstone Harbour (Queensland), management arrangements related to Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park (Commonwealth), development of Northern Prawn management (Gulf of Carpentaria), the South-East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership initiative (SEQ HWP), the Australian Oceans Policy (AOP) (2001-2005), the New South Wales (NSW) Marine Estate initiative, and progress toward IM in the Spencer Gulf (South Australia). This report describes the outcomes of those workshops, specifically the factors that enable or hinder the success of integrated management, and identification of critical features that will help improve future integrated management.