The purpose of this technical guidance is to:
- assist proponents to design fit-for-purpose modelling and monitoring programs to spatially define, assess and manage potential impacts of their proposal on marine environmental quality, and
- ensure proposals that have the potential to significantly affect marine environmental quality are described and assessed in a sound and consistent manner that demonstrates how the EPA’s objective for the Factor ‘marine environmental quality’ will be met.
The approaches outlined in this Guidance are not new. They have been applied to all significant and relevant proposals subject to formal environmental impact assessment for over a decade. This Guidance sets out the approach that has been refined and consolidated over this period in a single coherent document.
This document sets out the context for the guidance, describes the structure of the environmental quality management framework and how it is to be applied through environmental impact assessment to maintain a high level of quality in Western Australia’s marine waters. WA marine waters extend from the outer boundary of the State’s Coastal Waters through estuaries and inland to the limit of tidal influence where salinity is influenced by seawater, including marinas and canals that are contiguous with the marine environment. Although tailored to marine waters, the general approach is applicable to other estuaries and inland waters, but there are likely to be a different set of pressures and issues to be considered.