Pro-vision Reef is pleased to announce the completion of the first edition of a major industry initiative. The Pro-vision Reef Stewardship Action Plan is a statement of operational standards in the aquarium supply fisheries that are based in Queensland.

Developed in collaboration with collectors from the three fisheries together with the fisheries and protected areas management agencies and coral reef scientists, the Stewardship Action Plan establishes a uniform specimen collection standard across the industry.

The key component of the Stewardship Action Plan involves responding to the challenge of global climate change. This is believed to be a world’s first for a fishery. Using coral bleaching as the key indicator, the Stewardship Action Plan contains a formal link to coral bleaching response plans developed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Queensland Fisheries.

This formal collaboration is seen as the first step toward co-management of these fisheries where management agencies recognise the custodial role of operators in the water and the intellectual capital that is accrued from visiting areas of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea that few, if any, management agencies ever reach.

The Stewardship Action Plan is subject to annual review where the collection strategies will be reassessed. In parallel to implementation of the Stewardship Action Plan is a proposed research project to be undertaken by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville.

The project, which is expected to be approved before the end of the year aims to:

• Quantify the extent and nature of current and projected collection activities (i.e. understand the dynamics of collection activity and the key drivers of collection patterns).

• Quantify the ecological impacts of harvesting on coral reef populations and community structure (i.e. evaluate the extent to which harvesting may result in localised depletion of critical species and undermine reef resilience by reducing the capacity of local faunas to support key ecosystem processes).

• Evaluate the impact of the trade on ecosystem processes, reef resilience and regeneration (i.e. does collecting increase the risk of phase shifts through the collection of herbivores; does collection reduce reef resilience and limit regeneration potential; and can a climate change impacted Great Barrier Reef support the trade?)

It is expected that the research will guide the strategies articulated in the Stewardship Action Plan such that the strategies are fully defensible. The project will take 3-5 years (pending approval from ARC) enabling incremental improvement in the Stewardship Action Plan through annual review.

Results of the research over the ensuing years will guide improvements to the collection strategies adopted within the Stewardship Action Plan. It is anticipated that, in time, these strategies will sustain robust scientific scrutiny and will form the basis for sustainable collection of aquarium specimens all over the world.

Download the Stewardship Action Plan below.