2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – Pressure – Shipping (marine vessel activity)

Brief 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 "Pressures on the marine environment - shipping (marine vessel activity)". ***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 - Shipping (marine vessel activity)"*** ---------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION OF PRESSURE Australia as an island relies heavily on shipping for transportation of its domestic freight and international imports and exports. Australia relies on sea transport for 99 per cent of its international trade (by volume) [1]. In the 2017/18 financial year approximately 1554 million tonnes of cargo were loaded (+21.9% increase since 2013/14), and 155 million tonnes discharged (+2.6%) at Australian wharves by 5859 vessels (+6.5%) that made 34,117 port calls (+18.8%) [2]. As well as commercial vessels, many smaller vessels use Australian waters and provide an important recreational pastime for many Australians. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT not supplied ---------------------------------------- 2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2021 • Assessment grade: Low impact Assessment trend: Deteriorating Confidence grade: Adequate Confidence trend: Limited Comparability: Grade and trend are comparable to the 2016 assessment • 2016 • Assessment grade: Low Assessment trend: Deteriorating Confidence grade: High level of consensus Confidence trend: High level of consensus Comparability: Comparable • 2011 • ---------------------------------------- CHANGES SINCE 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT No change.

Lineage

Statement: QUALITY OF DATA USED IN THE ASSESSMENT
Commercial shipping data (i.e. shipping summaries and AIS spatial data are of high quality). Recreational boat registration data is good quality but does not directly provide information on usage and on-water spatial distribution.

Notes

Credit
Peer reviews of this assessment were provided by: Piers Dunstan (CSIRO) Matt Johnston (AMSA)