Victoria ’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries protect a wide range of natural and cultural features. These values however can be threatened by human activities that occur both with the parks as well as outside them.

The most consistent threat to the health of Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries is poor water quality that flows down the hills from catchments. Elevated nutrient and sediment levels have been identified as one of the key risks to the parks right along the coastline. Being at the receiving end of markedly altered catchments many of the Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries are subjected to poor water quality inputs.

Increased nutrient levels encourage the growth of algae that can cover large areas, smothering any submerged aquatic vegetation, such as seagrasses, or animal communities. Turbid water from high sediment loads reduces light penetration and sediment in large qualities smothers plants and animals.

Parks Victoria needs to ensure that the values of Victoria’s Marine National Park system are recognised by the broader community and that this leads to effort and investment in programs to improve water quality.

Objective: To identify your connections to the marine environment and the Marine National Park system.

Materials:

• Outline map of Victoria showing the major streams and rivers flowing to the coast
• Atlas showing Victoria’s rivers and the coast in detail

Method:

• Mark the location of where you live on the outline map using the atlas to help you.
• Use the atlas to locate the nearest waterways nearest to you. Follow these carefully til they join one of the main rivers or flow to the coast.
• Continue to follow these until the water reaches Bass Strait.
• Using a coloured pencil trace the pathway of the waterway all the way to the coast.

A healthy Victorian seagrass community

High nutrients levels cause algae to grow quickly smothering seagrasses

Dirty water also smothers seagrasses.