The model used to compute the currents on the North West Shelf was developed within CSIRO Marine Research and is referred to as MECO (Model for Estuaries and Coastal Oceans). It is a general-purpose finite difference hydrodynamic model applicable to scales ranging from estuaries to ocean basins. It has found previous applications in systems such as the Derwent and Huon Estuaries in Tasmania, Gippsland Lakes, Port Phillip Bay (Walker 1999), Bass Strait, the Great Australian Bight and South-eastern Australia (Bruce et al. 2001), and the Gulf of Carpentaria (Condie et al. 1999). A full description of the circulation model as applied to North West Shelf and descriptions of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the circulation and connectivity can be found in Condie(2004).

The data-rich screens of the NWS Technical User Interface mainly serve for analysis of raw inputs into InVitro, the spatially explicit agent-based biophysical simulation model at the core of this Study. The software is written in Java.

Contains the model output from Spadyno, a benthic habitat modelling and display package developed for the NWSJEMS project. The model predicts benthic habitat recovery under various fishing regimes. Two different modelling approaches can be selected by the user. The software also allows the user to vary environmental parameters such as cyclone activity and currents. Accompanying the model output on the production CD is source code, input data and documentation. The model is written in C and the output is in Visual Basic.

The high-level objective of Project 2 was to develop a range of interlinked models of the North West Shelf ecosystem which provide: An understanding of the links between the physical, chemical and biological environments, particularly with respect to primary producers, key species and habitat types; Predictions of the ecosystem response to natural forcing, including seasonal and interannual variability; Predictions of the effects of selected human uses on conservation and other values of the ecosystem, suitable for use in management strategy evaluation and risk assessment; and Identification of environmental quality indicators suitable for monitoring and use in adaptive management. Objectives of Task 2.6 (Trophic modelling) was: Evaluate spatial patterns of fishery production for the main commercial and recreational species, as well as their relationships with spatial patterns of physical variables, nutrients, primary and secondary production, and benthic habitat types. Provide coarse level trophic models support major trophic guilds involved with fishery production. Provide prediction of the impacts of management zoning and fishery targeting on fishery production by major guilds. 1. Prototype fisheries production and trophic models implemented for the coastal region from Exmouth to Port Hedland. 2. Fisheries production and trophic models implemented for the coastal region from Exmouth to Port Hedland. 3. Maps of fishery production and spatial distributions of relative abundance of key commercial fisheries, including relationships with physical factors, primary production, and benthic habitat types (used in Tasks 1.2, 1.3, 2.7, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and by management agencies). 4. Food web diagrams indicating main trophic interactions and dynamical food web models for the region, including time series of biomass for the main trophic guilds (used in Tasks 1.2, 1.3, 2.7, 5.3, 5.4 and by management agencies). 5. Written report on Fishery Production and Links to Habitats and Food Web Dynamics including model documentation. 2 This report represents the food web dynamics component of these deliverables, i.e. the trophodynamics model implemented for the region from Exmouth Gulf to Port Hedland, food web diagrams, a dynamical food web model for the region including a time series of biomass for the main trophic guilds, and a written report on food web dynamics and model documentation.

The West Australia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) initiated a North West Shelf (NWS) Marine Environmental Management Study in 1998 to develop and consolidate the technical information base, scientific understanding and predictive capabilities required to underpin environmental decision making in both the public and private sectors. Documents, reports and scientific publications pertinent to the North West Shelf are abundant, but vary widely in scope and the degree of relevance to environmental management. Much of the information is from industries and associated government departments involved in exploiting and managing resources, and much of it has been activity specific and/or site specific in nature. This has created rich pockets of specialist knowledge but, unfortunately, the information has not been integrated across industries, government departments or scientific disciplines. Such integration is attractive, but difficult to achieve. As an example, the petroleum industry initiated its own review in the early 1990s to coordinate the then state of knowledge among its members, but has recently identified the need to revisit the process. As a first step in the North West Shelf Marine Environmental Management Study, DEP commissioned the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Marine Research to conduct a compilation and review of scientific research and data related to the North West Shelf marine environment. This bibliography is one product of that effort; it provides a compilation of published and unpublished literature generally related to the North West Shelf marine environment and its management. The second product, a review of scientific research and identification of important knowledge gaps, appears as a separate report by Heyward, Revill, and Sherwood (2006), titled Review of Research and Data Relevant to Marine Environmental Management of Australias North West Shelf.

The West Australia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) initiated a North West Shelf (NWS) Marine Environmental Management Study in 1998 to develop and consolidate the technical information base, scientific understanding and predictive capabilities required to underpin environmental decision making in both the public and private sectors. Documents, reports and scientific publications pertinent to the North West Shelf are abundant, but vary widely in scope and the degree of relevance to environmental management. Much of the information is from industries and associated government departments involved in exploiting and managing resources, and much of it has been activity specific and/or site specific in nature. This has created rich pockets of specialist knowledge but, unfortunately, the information has not been integrated across industries, government departments or scientific disciplines. Such integration is attractive, but difficult to achieve. As an example, the petroleum industry initiated its own review in the early 1990s to coordinate the then state of knowledge among its members, but has recently identified the need to revisit the process. As a first step in the North West Shelf Marine Environmental Management Study, DEP commissioned the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Marine Research to conduct a compilation and review of scientific research and data related to the North West Shelf marine environment. This bibliography is one product of that effort; it provides a compilation of published and unpublished literature generally related to the North West Shelf marine environment and its management. The second product, a review of scientific research and identification of important knowledge gaps, appears as a separate report by Heyward, Revill, and Sherwood (2006), titled Review of Research and Data Relevant to Marine Environmental Management of Australias North West Shelf.

This project seeks to address NRP Project F: Integration for management through: #(i) Development of integrated data products and modelling frameworks relating ecological and socio-economic processes in the Ningaloo region. These products and tools will be designed to support assessment of risks associated with human uses (e.g. recreational fishing) and environmental trends (e.g. climate change) in the region. They will also be used to evaluate existing and alternative management strategies in terms of identified management objectives. #(ii) Leadership and coordination of integrated reports summarising and linking findings across the NRP and CSIRO Ningaloo Cluster, with an emphasis on relevance to management. #The funding request from NRP is $450K, which will be matched by approximately $450K in-kind from CSIRO and the University of Western Australia. Further budgetary details are provided below.

Ocean circulation on the North West Shelf (NWS) influences nearly all aspects of the ecosystem, including sediment transport and turbidity patterns, primary production in the water column and bottom sediments, and recruitment patterns for organisms with pelagic phases in their life cycles. Current patterns are also of direct interest to most industries operating on the NWS, particularly those associated with fisheries, shipping, and offshore structures and operations. This study is the first attempt to describe the water circulation and transport patterns across the region on time scales from hours to years, and space scales from 10 km over the entire shelf to one kilometre in a selected focus area around the Dampier Archipelago. It has also provided a framework for embedded models describing processes such as sediment transport, nutrient cycling, and primary and secondary production (described in accompanying reports). A series of nested circulation models have been developed with forcing by realistic winds, tides, and large-scale regional circulation. The simulations cover a period of more than six years, allowing the tidal, seasonal, and interannual characteristics to be investigated, as well as the response to episodic events such as tropical cyclones. Connectivity patterns throughout the shelf have also been characterised by forcing a particle transport model by the modelled circulation. Model results demonstrate that the instantaneous current patterns are strongly dominated by the barotropic tide and its spring neap cycle. However, longer-term transports over the inner and mid shelf were mainly controlled by wind-driven flow, which followed the seasonal switch from summer monsoon winds to southeasterly trades in winter. Over the outer shelf and slope the large-scale regional circulation, provided by the global model, had a major influence. Results were shown to be relatively insensitive to adjustable model parameters and submodel structures. However, model performance was strongly dependent on the quality of the forcing fields. For example, the prediction of low frequency inner shelf currents was improved substantially when the relatively coarse resolution global winds where replaced by locally observed winds in the Dampier model. Lower skill in predicting low frequency currents on the outer shelf can be largely attributed to errors in the global circulation model. Results from the connectivity modelling have been summarised in statistical form and can be accessed through a web-based user-interface developed as part of the project and referred to as the Connectivity Interface or ConnIe (http://www.per.marine.csiro.au/connie). This tool is expected to find applications in areas such as larval dispersion and recruitment studies, and the development of scenarios and risk assessments for contaminant dispersion.

The aims of this project are: (1) to identify and simulate key physical factors that have significant impacts on ecological processes on shelf and coastal areas of southwestern Western Australia (WA); and (2) to develop physical, ecological, and risk assessment models that can be used to assess impacts of multiple human use on coastal and shelf environments. The project consists of five main components: analysis of large scale climate forcing, development and application of regional and coastal circulation models, development of integrated biogeochemical/ecological models, development of coastal impact models, and risk assessment. This project will link existing field data, field observations from other SRFME projects, and output from new and existing models, with management objectives and needs defined by Western Australian stakeholders. Specific models to be developed include regional and coastal oceanographic models, biogeochemical / ecological models that links physical and ecological processes, and risk assessment models that link these models to human use of the marine environment. The project intends to build on methods and models already developed and/or used by other CMR projects such as the NWSJEMS and LWRDDC projects. These models will be adapted and extended to allow assessment of impacts of multiple use and natural forcing on nutrient cycling, production and habitat quality on shelf and coastal areas in southwestern WA. These tools will range from process-based simulation models to semi-empirical models, with a focus on making efficient use of existing data, and incorporating new data from large-scale observations such as acoustic and satellite data. The main deliverables of the project include analysis of large scale climate forcing, development and application of regional and coastal scale oceanographic, integrated biogeochemical/ecological, and coastal impact models and risk assessment methods.