Cockburn Sound Management Council
Marine life Cockburn Sound
(Photo: Fremantle Commercial Diving and Water Corporation)
The Cockburn Sound Management Council is an advisory council to the Minister for Environment—established under s 25 the Environmental Protection Act 1986. The Council was set up in 2000 as a Committee of the Water and Rivers Commission's Board.
The Council provides advice to the Minister for Environment on the environmental management of Cockburn Sound, in particular the protection and maintenance of water quality and associated environmental values of the Cockburn Sound marine area.
Cockburn Sound Management Council Terms of Reference
The Council facilitates and coordinates stakeholder and community input into the environmental management of Cockburn Sound. The Council's members include representatives from the community, conservation and recreation groups, industry and Local, State and Federal Government agencies.
Cockburn Sound Management Council Members (November 2017)
Summaries of Council meetings:
- 2 March 2018
- 11 December 2017
- 13 October 2017
- 30 June 2017
- 19 June 2017
- April 2017
- December 2016
- October 2016
Under its terms of reference the Council is responsible for the oversight and coordination of environmental and research/investigative studies in Cockburn Sound. The Council has collated information on the monitoring and research being undertaken in the Cockburn Sound marine area.
Summary of Cockburn Sound Monitoring and Research Programs 2016
Council-Supported Research Projects
The 2017 Cockburn Sound Drivers-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses Assessment Final Report considered pressures and risks to the Sound including impacts from contaminants, invasive marine species, boats, commercial and recreational fishing, climate change and development on the mainland coast.
The Cockburn Sound Management Council will consider the report’s recommendations and provide its advice to the Minister.
The Council oversees and coordinates research and investigative studies in Cockburn Sound. Recent research projects supported by the Council include:
Seagrass Cockburn Sound (Photo: CSMC)
- Drivers of Seagrass Decline in Cockburn and Warnbro Sound—University of Western Australia.
- Spatial and temporal analysis of water quality monitoring data collected from Cockburn Sound and Warnbro Sound between 1982/83 and 2013/14—CSIRO
- Nitrogen Budget for Cockburn Sound, Western Australia—CSIRO
- Benthic Habitat Mapping Of Cockburn Sound 2018—University of Western Australia.
Annual Environmental Monitoring Report and Report Cards
- 2018 State of Cockburn Sound Marine Area Report
- Cockburn Sound Report Card 2016-2017
- Cockburn Sound Annual Environmental Monitoring Report 2016-2017
- Cockburn Sound Report Card 2015-2016
- Cockburn Sound Annual Environmental Monitoring Report 2015-2016
State of Cockburn Sound Reports from previous years are available here.
The Cockburn Sound Environmental Policy
Cockburn Sound is one of the most intensively used marine areas of Western Australia and is subject to its own State Environmental (Cockburn Sound) Policy 2015 to ensure that the values and uses of Cockburn Sound are protected.
The Policy establishes the environmental quality management framework for Cockburn Sound, as well as the requirements for monitoring and reporting against the management framework.
The Environmental Quality Criteria for chlorophyll a, light attenuation coefficient, phytoplankton biomass and Posidonia sinuosa shoot density are recalculated and updated each year using the monitoring results collected during the current year.
The updated Environmental Quality Criteria for 2017–2018 are available.
More information
Technical reports, including information on water quality and seagrass health in Cockburn Sound are available publicly here.
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +61 8 6364 7012
Fact sheets
Seagrass monitoring in Cockburn Sound