Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2007.

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About the report

This report summarises the outcomes of an expert workshop held in Darwin, Northern Territory during 2–3 April 2007. 

The objective of the workshop was to characterise the marine environment of the North Marine Region in a way that would improve the Department’s understanding of how the Region’s natural systems work.

The workshop outcomes will provide important information towards the development of a Bioregional Profile for the North Marine Region. More specifically, the workshop aimed to:

• characterise the ecosystems within the Region on the basis of their location, their biological and physical components, and how these may interact
• provide an understanding of the broad scale drivers of ecosystem functioning across the Region, including identification of important links between ecosystems and the key processes that connect neighbouring systems
• identify the key areas of uncertainty surrounding the Region’s ecological systems, as well as the areas for which empirical evidence is available.

The workshop focussed on the characterisation of the marine environment within the Commonwealth waters of the North Marine Region.

However, the workshop also addressed aspects of the biophysical components, ecological processes and interactions occurring in adjacent State and Territory waters, particularly where coastal inputs and processes have an important influence on marine systems.

The workshop report was initially prepared in a draft form to seek further comments, clarifications and corrections from the workshop participants.

This final report incorporates further information provided by workshop attendees in their comments on the first draft, or in subsequent correspondence.