The marine environment has received much less attention than its terrestrial counterpart in the area of biodiversity. This is surprising considering that marine evolution has a 2.7 billion year head start over terrestrial environments. This lack of attention probably results from the relatively limited accessibility of the ocean as well as its vast nature (i.e. covers approximately 70% of the earth’s surface).
Moreover, the previous train of thought depicted the marine environment as an area of low biodiversity and thus, research focused on land. Although an extensive amount of important biodiversity information has been addressed on land, the need for more research in the marine realm is great.
Australia’s marine environment is diverse and unique, crossing the five temperature zones and reaching from the tropics to Antarctica.
For many years the ocean has been considered an inexhaustible resource, a place that would provide us with endless fish and a bottomless pit for our waste. We now understand that oceans are fragile and have very real limits to what they can sustain.
On the Sunshine Coast we have beautiful beaches that stretch to a sea of blue. Underneath the waves, a whole new world is revealed, none of which has appropriate or adequate marine protection.
People are surprised to hear we have coral reefs or globally significant sponge gardens. These unique areas proved habitats for fisheries and other sea creatures. It forms part of the global ocean that is often abused and misunderstood due to lack of data, research and protection.
SCEC would like to see (sea) our underwater resource mapped with the appropriate research and protected with a series of marine parks and other zones to ensure this unique environment is there for generations to come.