4. Aims and Scope of the Project

It is widely acknowledged that a scientifically-based bioregionalisation planning framework is a key element in the identification, designation and management of marine protected areas and biosphere reserves. The Ocean Rescue 2000 project A National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas acknowledges the fundamental scientific planning framework required to underpin the task of identifying, selecting and managing sites for protection and conservation. This project is a contribution to that effort and is devoted to providing a scientifically-based bioregionalisation of coastal and offshore waters.

The scope and limitations of the project are detailed in an accompanying proposal (ERIN 1995) and the reader is referred to that document for further details.

In brief, the present project aims to produce:

1. A province level bioregionalisation based on fish distributions, using both traditional and RAP (Rapid Assessment Procedures) methodologies.
2. An oceanographic regionalisation using available core physical oceanographic datasets.

This report reviews regionalisation strategies, details methodology for the assembly of datasets, and presents regionalisations of the coastal and continental shelf biomes using fish distributional datasets and an offshore regionalisation using oceanographic datasets.

A pilot study investigated methods for integrating biological and physical data at the habitat level. Results of this case study, which successfully attempted to regionalise fish communities of northwestern Australia, were briefly summarised in the May '96 progress report (CSIRO, 1996). The main focus of the study team was to produce a provincial scale regionalisation of the entire EEZ which is the subject of this report.

Next Chapter: 5. Background to Bioregionalisation