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Unit of Study MRNE3004 - Sustainable Use of the Marine Environment (2022)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

    Offered only at the National Marine Science Centre in a 3-week intensive mode, which includes a compulsory 6-day residential held outside normal residential weeks for all students. Please refer to https://www.scu.edu.au/timetables for further information on timetables. To avoid timetable and assessment clashes, it is recommended that on-campus students do not take NMSC intensives at the same time as on-campus session-based units. It is best to take intensives in a block, in the final year of study, or in conjunction with online units.

Unit description

Examines how we can use ocean resources sustainably. Explores the principles of ecologically sustainable development, integrated catchment management, and marine ecosystem management. The practical application of environmental planning and management instruments such as environmental impact assessment, cost/benefit analysis, ecological risk assessment and threat abatement and species recovery plans are explained. Principles of fisheries management are critically examined.

Unit content

Australia's marine resources

Ecologically Sustainable Development

Responsibilities in the marine environment (international law, regional agreements, the planning process)

Environmental Impact Assessment in coastal and marine environments

Managing biodiversity: threats, management and large marine protected areas

Management of maritime industries: shipping, ports, offshore petroleum and gas

Managing fisheries and aquaculture

Regional planning and multiple-use marine protected areas

Managing cultural heritage, recreation and tourism

Availabilities

2022 unit offering information will be available in November 2021

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

explain the underpinning principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), integrated catchment management, and large marine ecosystems management as applied to coastal and marine environments

understand the use of Environmental Impact Assessment, and other means of assessing impacts and issues in the coastal and marine environments

understand the importance and use of planning (integrated planning, the planning cycle) and management approaches; and importance of applied research and monitoring

describe mechanisms for marine biodiversity conservation, including the identification of issues and threats, the production of management and recovery plans, and the establishment of marine protected areas

understand the impacts and management of major uses: fisheries, tourism, transport and energy

apply the principles of ecology, and planning and management to multiple-use marine protected areas

understand the importance of social and cultural values in the coastal and marine environment, and recognise the different environmental values placed by various user grounds including indigenous communities.