2020-09-14 GC Agenda - Item 7 - Attachment 2 - Independent Scientific Review of Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

                                                                                                                             Source of   Assessment and
    #            Prompt                              Notes
                                                                                                                             information recommendations.
    13           Are arrangements for data           The MER Plan commits to following good practice standards as            MER Plan    No details but commitment
                 storage and management              outlined in the British Ecological Society’s (2014) guide. No further   pg. 67      to comply with standards.
                 clear?                              detail provided. See below for longer term housing and access.
    14           Will the data be accessible to      Data and information will be openly shared, proactively released,       MER Plan    Met
                 the scientific community and        licensed to promote re-use and housed on the Australian Ocean           pg. 67
                 the public through an open          Data Network (https://portal.aodn.org.au )
                 access databases such as
                 Atlas of Living Australia
                 (https://www.ala.org.au )
    Evaluation
    15           Are assessment methods              A Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design with two adjacent           MER Plan    Met for biophysical and
                 identified or described?            control sites for each location (one for seagrass and one for sandy                 ecological measures.
                                                                                                                             pg. 63-65
                                                     substrate).
                                                                                                                                         Assessment methods for
                                                     The evaluation of biophysical and ecological measures is well                       socio-economic indicators
                                                     described and will incorporate basic statistics, time series,                       could be further developed
                                                     comparative analysis and restoration scores.                                        if desired. Refer
                                                                                                                                         recommendation 3.
                                                     Evaluation of qualitative socio-economic data is not described, and
                                                     many of the socio-economic indicators have no clear benchmarks
                                                     (e.g. knowledge, skills and educational objectives).
    16           Have key project decision           Yes. The project is split into 3 distinct phases to allow adjustment:   MER Plan    Met
                 points and their information                                                                                pg. 55-56
                                                     Phase 1 external experimental project to test viability and local
                 needs been identified?
                                                     responses9;
                                                     Phase 2 shellfish reef restoration at 2 sites10; and

9
    Completed by the University of the Sunshine Coast prior to this project.
10
     The focus of the Project Plan and MERI (and this review).


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