2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – Pressure – Non-plastic marine pollution

Researchers: Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) (publisher) ,  Emma Flukes (Point of contact) ,  Gagnon, Marthe Monique (Author) ,  National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub (Associated with) ,  School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University (Associated with)

Full description The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressure of Non-plastic Marine Pollution".
***A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Non-plastic Marine Pollution"***

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DESCRIPTION OF PRESSURE
In the north east parts of Australia, monitoring and management has been focussed on land-based nutrients, pesticides and sediment inputs while pollution by hydrocarbons is a nation-wide concern. Excess nutrient loads, or the presence of contaminants have the potential to affect the ecological integrity of marine environments. Australia-wide, other threats include microplastics (see marine debris assessment) and pharmaceutical products for which Australia has limited monitoring data (Kroon et al. 2020).
Relative to north-eastern Australia, population density, agricultural activities and coastal development is less intense in the north, south and west coasts where inputs of suspended sediments and pollution (especially metals from spoil or dredging) is understudied but likely to represent a minor pressure on the health of the marine environment (Stoddart et al. 2019).
The use of low sulphur fuel oils (LSFOs) by all vessels is now a mandatory requirement introduced by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) from January 2020. While the sulphur contents has been reduced to 0.5% m/m (IMO 2019), the physicochemical characteristics of the LSFOs are highly variable and little is known of their fate and behaviour once in the environment, should an accidental discharge occur on Australian coastlines.

DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT
Peer-reviewed literature (2015-2020)
Government and Industry reports (2015-2020)

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2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details]

• 2021 •
Assessment grade: Poor- Very good
Assessment trend: Stable
Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2016 assessment
• 2016 •
Assessment grade: Good-Poor
Assessment trend: Improving
Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment
• 2011 •
Assessment grade: Very good
Assessment trend: Stable
Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus

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CHANGES SINCE 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT
Additional management efforts have been implemented for the Great Barrier Reef e.g. Reef 2050 Plan
New regulations from the International Maritime Organisation regarding the mandatory use of low sulphur fuel oils.

Lineage Statement: QUALITY OF DATA USED IN THE ASSESSMENT Peer-reviewed literature (2015-2020) Government and Industry reports (2015-2020)

Lineage

Notes Credit
Peer reviews of this assessment were provided by: Mariana Mayer Pinto (UNSW)

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132.5390625,-27.333984375

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