A long-term monitoring program of the marine environment of New South Wales: A standard protocol for data collection on nearshore reefs

The coast of northern NSW supports one of the fastest growing human populations in Australia. It is predicted that over the next 25 years the population will expand by 91 000 people on the mid-north coast alone (NSW Department of Planning, 2006). The increasing human population will place significantly more pressure on the marine environment and resources of the NSW coast. These pressures include increased impacts from coastal development (e.g. increased run-off and sedimentation) and recreational and commercial fishing (Rule et al., 2007). However, very few baseline data exist for most marine areas in northern NSW, and thus, detecting any future anthropogenic-induced changes to marine resources will be exceedingly difficult.