The waters encompassed by the WA-IMOS Node broadly fall into two distinct geographic regions, both with their own socio-economic issues of relevance.

South-west Australian waters

The coastal waters of south-west West Australia are closely linked to the city of Perth, with a population of over 1.5 million people, many of whom are located close to the ocean.  The ocean plays an important role in the society providing a recreational amenity as well as economy through marine based industries.  For example, shipping is a vital industry the economy and many ships transit through the region to and from the eastern seaboard of Australia.  The Australian Defence Forces also conducts a range of military training, research and preparatory operations in the region.  The Leeuwin current system and its climate variability have crucial impacts on most marine based industries, such as commercial and recreational fishing, defence, marine tourism and recreation, petroleum exploration and production, ship building and ports.  For example, the southward movement of water via the Leeuwin Current transports tropical and subtropical species which are mixed with temperate species to form diverse and unique biological communities.  The region is home to the western rock lobster fishery, which is Australia’s largest single species fishery with catches ranging between 8,000 and 15,000 and valued at more than $250 million.  

This region also supports local, national and internationally important Marine Protected Areas and other forms of marine reserves.  Boundary and coastal counter currents and the oceanographic processes within these various conservation zones are key factors in the transport of waters and associated biomass and biota into and out of these areas and have a strong influence on their ecological characteristics.  The establishment and maintenance of long-term oceanographic time series data sets within the current context remains a high priority at State and National institutional levels.

North-west Australian waters

The Kimberley Coast is one of Australia’s marine and coastal regions that contains iconic treasures and amazing biodiversity, much of which is endemic to the region, and is still largely unknown.  However, this notable lack of knowledge extends well beyond the immediate region of the Kimberley Coast and applies to the whole of Australia’s northwest waters.  The particular concern caused by this lack of knowledge is that this region is on the threshold of change.

Very large reserves of natural gas and petroleum have recently been discovered at offshore locations in the Browse and Bonaparte regions.  In addition, location of renewable energy sources such as tidal power has been proposed for the Kimberley region as well as strategic plans to protect and manage Indigenous heritage, environment and tourism values.  This, combined with the fact that the area already supports a range of industries including marine-based tourism, commercial fishing, aquaculture and mining, will likely result in rapidly changing social and economic issues so that policy and management decisions will have to be made in the near future.