East Coast Cape Barren Island Lagoons Ramsar Site Ecological Character Description Introductory Notes

15.Monitoring needs

Monitoring recommendations to measure changes in the ecological character of the ECCBIL are outlined in Table 9 . The recommendations are targeted at measuring changes in those critical components and processes or major threats that may indicate a change in ecological character is occurring.

The monitoring required has also been designed to provide baseline information for the knowledge gaps identified in the previous section.

Aerial photography and mapping of the wetlands (Figure 3 ) will provide a baseline against which change in wetland type can be monitored. An analysis of aerial images at ten-yearly intervals should be sufficient to provide evidence of change. However, more frequent mapping may be required should there be indications that potential damaging processes are occurring.

Table 9
Monitoring requirements and actions for the ECCBIL to address knowledge gaps

Overarching component, process, benefit, service or threat	Specific component, process, benefit, service or threat	Objective of monitoring	Indicator/ measure	Frequency	Priority
Components and processes
Geomorphology	Coastal stabilisation	To determine the impact of human activity on dune stabilisation and the wetlands.	Land form classification and extent of disturbance Use GIS mapping and aerial photographic interpretation Focus on areas with high risk/frequency of use.	Every five years	Medium
Biota	Wetland vegetation	To evaluate the distribution of vegetation communities and important species to enable the monitoring of changes from the baseline.	Ongoing on-ground vegetation survey and community boundary mapping. Aerial photograph interpretation, photo-monitoring of site. Vegetation Condition Assessments. Threatened species/ community mapping and verification. Weed mapping.	Every five to ten years	High
	Birds	To develop a systematic record of the use of the coastal habitats by resident and migratory waders.	Presence/ absence of resident waterbird species (and migratory) Presence/ absence of migratory waterbird species Numbers of breeding pairs Habitat for breeding Number of nests Feeding/ foraging habitats.	Annual bird counts (including during the breeding season)	Medium
Services
Cultural	Aboriginal spiritual associations	To monitor the levels of human use of the area (including the shorelines) and establish appropriate levels and uses of the area. To be done in conjunction with ALCT and the CBIAA.	Presence/ absence of culturally significant areas Community use of areas Number of visitors and intention of visit (i.e. cultural).	Every five years	Medium
Threats
Natural system modification	Fire	To determine the fire frequency, intensity, source of ignition and risk on site.	Fire boundary mapping	Bi-annually (seasonal, dry season)	High