DREDGING AND MATERIAL RELOCATION IN SENSITIVE CORAL ENVIRONMENTS

摘要

Coral reefs are one of the richest and yet most sensitive elements of the marine environment. Coral reefs provide significant social, economic and resource related services and their continued health is essential for the sustainable development of many reef dependent communities.Unless well managed, marine construction activities such as dredging and material relocation in and around coral reefs may impact coral reefs and other habitats. Management measures including planning, environmental impact assessment, avoidance, minimisation and compensation have been used with various measures of success. Some examples of impact management from a range of dredging and material relocation projects in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia are discussed.While aspects of the impact of dredging and material relocation on coral reefs communities are complex, vectors such as sedimentation and turbidity provide effective candidates for monitoring and adaptive or feedback impact management. The application of integrated and rapid monitoring technologies such as satellite imagery and modelling are discussed.In the context of movement towards "best practice", international initiatives such as PIANC Working Group 15 guidelines for "Dredging and Port Construction around Coral Reefs" are presented.