Indicators for assessing the sustainability of Australia's marine ecosystems

Principles of integrated ecosystem-based management have been used to derive 61 potential environmental indicators for reporting on Australia's marine and estuarine ecosystems. They are focused on tracking the condition of marine ecosystems in the face of a variety of uses and pressures, and are consistent with approaches used for assessment of public- and private-sector environmental activities, and with the international standard. The indicators cover issues in protected species, common habitats, renewable and non-renewable resources, water and sediment quality, and integrated management. Gaps in knowledge and technical capacity include: knowledge of the nature of the ecosystems is incomplete (ineffective indicators may be selected); scientific understanding of environmental issues is limited (the wrong cause may be identified); the resolving capacity of a monitoring programme cannot be determined (monitoring may falsely infer that no changes have occurred, or provide an answer to the wrong question); procedures for synthesis and aggregation of data across spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales, or for estimating uncertainty in national summaries are lacking; case-study trials, reference sites, and suitable interpretative models are needed; and an established procedure for revising and updating the indicators as new knowledge accrues, or if new issues arise, is lacking.