3.7 Assessment summary — Ecosystem health

Paragraph 54(3)(a) of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (Cth) requires ‘… an assessment of the current health of the ecosystem within the Great Barrier Reef Region and of the ecosystem outside that region to the extent that it affects that region’.

This assessment is based on 5 criteria:

  • physical processes
  • chemical processes
  • ecological processes
  • coastal ecosystems that support the Great Barrier Reef
  • outbreaks of disease, introduced species and pest species.