Environmental report cards for heavy industry in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) has intrinsic value as the world's largest coral reef ecosystem, but also provides a network of human services from which industries such as fisheries, tourism and ports prosper. Coastal ports are essential economies providing trade and transport, with 99% of Australia's trade occurring through its ports. As society grows so must our ports, as does the industry's need to undertake ongoing environmental health assessments and sustainable practices. With 12 ports located along the coast of the GBRWHA, it is essential to ensure that the port industry is not contributing to an already compromised reef. Many ports around the world, and within Australia, have developed reporting frameworks to better understand and disseminate information on environmental health within their port areas. Most report cards do this through benchmarking environmental, social, cultural and economic data