- NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT VISION FOR THE NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
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The NARvis Coastal & Marine goals describe the outcomes the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR) community would like to see achieved by 2030.
This Report Card uses the best available evidence to assess progress towards each goal.
The goals vary in how readily they can be measured. Some contain specific numerical or management targets, while others describe broad ecological outcomes for which comprehensive regional monitoring is not available.
Where complete information is unavailable, the assessment reports only what can be supported by available evidence and identifies where the full regional outcome cannot yet be determined.
The assessments below describe progress as at 2026. A goal that has not yet been achieved has not necessarily failed: the target year is 2030 and management, monitoring and recovery actions are continuing.
2026 Assessment: Progressing – full regional outcome cannot yet be assessed
There is verified evidence of conservation, monitoring and threat-reduction activity for important coastal and marine biodiversity across the NAR.
A significant example is the ongoing work to protect the nationally listed Threatened Ecological Community (TEC) of Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh ecological community. Regional efforts have included mapping, flora and weed surveys, water-quality monitoring, high-resolution UAV vegetation mapping and condition and threat assessment. The NAR Saltmarsh Regional Management Plan 2025–2035 identifies priority threats and conservation actions, while on-ground management has commenced at a number of sites. At the Chapman River estuary, for example, invasive Sharp Rush identified during earlier assessments was removed in 2026, with continued routine monitoring.
Monitoring and management strategies are also in place for conservation-significant marine fauna, including Australian sea lions and seabirds.
However, the goal applies to all threatened and priority coastal and marine plants, animals and ecological communities. There is currently no single regional monitoring system that can demonstrate whether the conservation status of every relevant species and ecological community has been maintained and/or improved.
While there is clear evidence of progress in monitoring, conservation and threat reduction, there is insufficient information available to suggest the successful delivery of the regional outcome.
2026 Assessment: Progressing – target not yet achieved
The sustainability of fisheries in the NAR comprises contrasting data. The Western Rock Lobster Fishery is an important and positive example. This resource is being sustainably managed and the fishery continues to hold Marine Stewardship Council certification.
However, the 2025 assessment of the West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource found WA dhufish and northern and southern snapper stocks at severe risk. Fishing mortality remained too high to allow these stocks to recover. Major management changes have subsequently been introduced to substantially reduce fishing pressure and support recovery.
Other demersal species are in better condition, and the status of western rock lobster demonstrates that the overall fisheries picture is not uniformly poor. However, because the NARvis goal requires all commercial and recreational fisheries to practise sustainable fishing, the varied condition of the West Coast demersal resource means the target cannot currently be considered achieved.
While some important fisheries are sustainably managed, key demersal fish stocks remain depleted. The 2030 target is therefore not yet achieved, although substantial recovery measures are now in place.
2026 Assessment: Progressing – at least 18 of 25 projects verified
A review of coastal and marine research and monitoring undertaken during the current NARvis Strategy period has identified a verified minimum of at least 18 qualifying projects or monitoring programs. This represents at least 72% of the 2030 target.
Verified activities include coastal photo-monitoring; coastal saltmarsh mapping and ecological monitoring; marine-debris research at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands; the Fishing Float Survey; Houtman Abrolhos biodiversity surveys; fish, invertebrate, macroalgae and seagrass monitoring in Jurien Bay Marine Park; Australian sea lion monitoring; and research into kelp forests, marine heatwaves and western rock lobster habitat.
The figure is deliberately conservative. Repeated surveys forming part of the same long-term monitoring program are counted as one program rather than as separate projects. Additional research and monitoring may therefore increase the verified total as more evidence becomes available.
With at least 18 of the target 25 projects verified, this goal is progressing towards its numerical target.
2026 Assessment: Progressing – target not yet achieved
Coastal hazard risk management and adaptation planning is established across much of the NAR coastline.
Formal Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Plans (CHRMAPs) have been verified within the Shires of Gingin, Dandaragan, Irwin, Horrocks in Northampton, and City of Greater Geraldton. The Shires of Coorow and Chapman Valley have also undertaken coastal management and hazard planning through other strategies and plans.
There is clear evidence that implementation is occurring. This includes coastal monitoring, erosion-management works, planning controls, adaptation investigations and further assessment of management options. However, available evidence does not demonstrate that all recommendations identified in relevant CHRMAPs have been implemented. In several locations, activities remain underway or planned, such as further investigations, planning measures or adaptation works. Some CHRMAP actions are linked to future coastal conditions or trigger points, with the intention of being carried out only when those conditions occur.
Coastal adaptation has progressed from planning into implementation across several NAR local governments, but the full 2030 target has not yet been achieved.
The following indicators provide additional information about changes and management responses affecting the NAR’s coastal and marine environment. They provide useful context for interpreting progress towards the NARvis goals but should not, on their own, be interpreted as measures of whether a goal has been achieved.
These data were sourced from the annual Status Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of Western Australia 2023/24.
Monthly updates from the Abrolhos Islands, Dongara and Jurien Bay can be viewed through the Puerulus Settlement Index. This long-term monitoring program records the abundance of late larval-stage western rock lobsters (puerulus) settling on inshore reefs along the west coast.
Puerulus settlement provides an important early indicator of future recruitment to the Western Rock Lobster Fishery and contributes to scientific assessment and management of the resource.
These data were sourced from the Status Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of Western Australia 2023/24. The reported area of fisheries and marine protected areas relates to the entire 10,088 km² West Coast Bioregion, which extends from Augusta in the south to north of Kalbarri.
The West Coast Bioregion includes the NAR coastline but extends substantially beyond the NAR. The figures should therefore be interpreted as broader regional context rather than as a measure of protected-area extent specifically within the Northern Agricultural Region.
These data are drawn from the State of the Climate Report 2024 and show changes in annual mean sea surface temperature around Australia.
Sea surface temperatures around Australia have increased over the long term, contributing to changes in marine ecosystems and an increased risk of marine heatwaves. These national-scale data provide important climate context for the NAR but should not be interpreted as a direct measurement of sea surface temperature change specifically within the Northern Agricultural Region.
