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Over seventy representatives of government and industry, and scientists attended the Coastal and Ocean Industry Forum, organised by The UWA Oceans Institute at The University Club on July 27. Attendees heard from three guest speakers about the major marine issues set to face their sectors over the next 5-20 years.

The first guest speaker was Dr Paul Vogel, Chairman of the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). He highlighted shipping (in terms of accidents and introduced marine pests) and industrial, urban and port developments (particularly dredging) as significant contemporary pressures on our marine environment.

A recurrent theme was the importance of good science in producing accurate environmental impact assessments. "It needs to be relevant, targeted, and focused on the outcomes that we're trying to achieve... The better advice that we can provide about those habitats, impacts, and stressors etc., the more we can avoid damage to important and critical habitats."

Reducing predictive uncertainty through good science will have enormous benefits.  "Companies will have a faster track through the impact assessment process," he said. "It will give them earlier access to markets. It will give government earlier access to royalty streams, but importantly, from EPA's perspective, it will lead to much better environmental outcomes."

Dr Gary Prattley, Chairman of the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC), was the second guest speaker. From a planning perspective, understanding how and at what rate the coastline is changing, and how it will be impacted by climate change, is critical to "inform decisions on where and what type of coastal development is appropriate."

Dr Prattley believes that the Oceans Institute can help to build this understanding "through research into WA coastal processes, building the information database, and developing and running predictive models."

Mr Tom Baddeley, WA Director of Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Ltd (APPEA), was the third guest speaker. He spoke of the imperative role played by the oil and gas industry in WA, directly employing more than 20,000 people and paying over $8 billion in taxes per year.

"But that doesn't mean the industry takes its licence to operate for granted," he said. "Our aim is to ensure every employee returns home safe and that our environmental footprint is as small as it can be."

Mr Baddeley also outlined dredging as a major impact, and the need for better predictive models. Another focus was the importance of maintaining a dispassionate view on risk in the wake of Montara and the Gulf of Mexico.

Concluding on a positive note, Mr Baddeley provided examples of "technologies that have flowed out of research institutions and into standard industry practice in recent years", including satellite tagging to assess the short and long-term movement of mega-fauna.

Professor Alistar Robertson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), gave the welcoming address and facilitated the evening's discussion. He outlined the role of the Oceans Institute in dealing with challenges posed by the massive developments going on in WA, namely by co-housing eighty UWA staff from various marine disciplines, together with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), in a single location.

"One driver for this is to make sure that the University has one place for industry, community groups and the government to come to talk to us," said Professor Robertson. "The other is for us to be much more integrated internally in how we respond to the challenges."

The collaborative nature of the Oceans Institute is already paying off - the best example being the recent attainment of $63 million in funding to bring staff from UWA, CSIRO, AIMS and the Department of Fisheries Western Australia together in a new Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre.

The three presentations were followed by a question and answer session, then summarised by Tim Shanahan, Director of the Energy and Minerals Institute, UWA.

The areas addressed during question time were:

• Risk analysis as related to spills - local expertise needs to be developed for immediate response.
• Data management from environmental assessments needs to be collated. The data is provided to the EPA as summaries, but not as raw data. It was suggested there would be intellectual property issues.
• Risk communication and perception by the community needs to be improved.
• Research centre in the North of Western Australia - difficulties in the management of such a facility.
• Research needs to be more than the sum of its parts. This will be managed by addressing key issues across all disciplines (including social sciences) within the University and with key national and international partners.

To listen to the Lectopia recording of the presentations please visit https://lectopia.uwa.edu.au/lectopia/lectopia.lasso?ut=2139&id=136686

For further information please contact Maryann Evetts on (08) 6488 8116 or email: [email protected]

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