Sharper focus, bigger picture: Enhancing MEMS public reporting
A Message from Dr Russell Reichelt
Dear colleagues and partners,
As custodians of the NSW marine estate, we know how important it is that you can clearly see the progress and impact of the work we’re doing together.
From 1 July 2025, we are making some important changes to how we report on the implementation of the Marine Estate Management Strategy (MEMS).
These changes are designed to provide you with a clearer, more comprehensive picture of what’s being achieved and how those achievements are delivering meaningful outcomes for the people and places of our marine estate.
Implementing the Marine Estate Management Strategy
Progress on implementation of the Marine Estate Management Strategy is published:
- once a year in a mid-year snapshot report
- at the end of each year in an annual report.
Copies of past reports are available below.
In addition, the Marine Integrated Monitoring Program is assessing the effectiveness of the Strategy in reducing priority threats and risks to the NSW marine estate.
A ten-year strategy
The Strategy commenced its ninth year of implementation on 1 July 2026. See the relevant implementation plan for details about how the Marine Estate Management Strategy is being delivered.
Highlights of current progress
July to December 2025
| Marine Litter campaign | The Nature Hates a Tosser campaign launched in November 2025. It has a strong focus on reducing litter in our waterways. This multi-million-dollar campaign gives voice to our land and marine wildlife that are endangered by littering. |
| Intertidal Marine Vegetation Strategy | The Richmond River estuary IMVS is in the final stages of approval with expected release in early 2026. It will identify priority sites and actions to help mitigate key risks to saltmarsh and mangroves, and support adaptation to rising sea levels. The Intertidal Marine Vegetation Strategies SEED dataset is now published. The Tweed River estuary dataset is also available through the IMVS Desktop Mapping Tool to help land managers protect intertidal habitats. |
| Blue carbon demonstration on national parks land | We held a blue carbon workshop and field trip at Everlasting Swamp September 2025. The event brought experts together to examine opportunities, risks and knowledge gaps in coastal wetland rehabilitation. Five presentations were recorded and prepared for publication to support proponents working on coastal wetland and blue carbon projects. |
| The Biirrinba – Living Dreaming, Living Seawalls | The Biirrinba – Living Dreaming, Living Seawalls pilot installed 20 habitat enhancing living boulders on the Yamba Breakwall. These specially designed boulders create rockpools and crevices that support marine life. Aboriginal culture and stories were shared through signage and artwork. |
| NSW Marine Mammal Summit | The inaugural NSW Marine Mammal Summit brought together more than 200 people from across the state to share knowledge and build collaboration. The summit helped connect people working on similar issues and encouraged a more coordinated approach to protecting marine mammals. It also created new partnerships and identified opportunities to share data, samples and expertise across organisations. |
| Fisheries Enhancements project | The Fisheries Enhancements project improved fishing opportunities and fish habitat through artificial reefs and marine stocking. New offshore artificial reefs were installed to create habitat and attract baitfish and larger species. The project also stocked juvenile Dusky Flathead into key estuaries to boost local fish populations. Both steps support sustainable fishing while improving ecological outcomes. |
| End of life vessels (ELVs) | Transport for NSW led community consultation to better understand how to manage end of life vessels (ELVs) across NSW. The project gathered feedback from boat owners, industry and the community to identify challenges and potential solutions. Findings highlighted the need for clearer information, stronger compliance, improved data and better disposal pathways. |
| Marine Estate Champions program | The Marine Estate Champions program empowered Lake Illawarra residents to take an active role in caring for their local waterway. Participants learnt about the lake’s ecology, challenges and management through workshops, field trips and expert presentations. The program supported community members to develop their own project ideas focused on improving local environmental outcomes. |
| Mainland Marine Park Network Management Plan | To support the rollout of the Mainland Marine Park Network Management Plan, several foundational actions were completed to give implementation a strong head start. One of these actions was developing climate change planning for all NSW marine parks. |
Reports
2025-26
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23
2021-22
2020-21
Baseline evaluation
- Strategy baseline evaluation Executive Summary and recommendations (PDF, 374.08 KB)
- Strategy baseline evaluation report (PDF, 1351.41 KB)
- Strategy baseline evaluation supplementary report (PDF, 1156.2 KB)
Progress reports
- Strategy Implementation Annual Report 2020-21 (PDF, 11212.48 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Year 3, Quarter 4 (PDF, 2211.84 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Year 3, Quarter 3 (PDF, 1646.27 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Year 3, Quarter 2 (PDF, 1625.72 KB)
- Status report for local government - Initiatives 1-3 - September 2020 (PDF, 764.8 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Year 3, Quarter 1 (PDF, 1119.91 KB)
Presentations from MEMS local government online forum - July 2021
- Introduction (PDF, 3776.63 KB)
- Review of the NSW water quality objectives (PDF, 3558.67 KB)
- Risk based framework for urban waterway health (PDF, 2270.02 KB)
- Risk based framework for regional waterway health (PDF, 2267.9 KB)
- Estuarine water quality monitoring (PDF, 2232.12 KB)
- Oyster reef restoration (PDF, 4833.15 KB)
- Improving roads and tracks (PDF, 4871.89 KB)
- Riverbank vegetation improvement and stabilisation (PDF, 5369.89 KB)
- Clean coastal catchments on-ground and research (PDF, 748.11 KB)
- Fish friendly workshops for councils (PDF, 2161.73 KB)
- Construction sediment management and coastal design guidelines (PDF, 2545.07 KB)
- Fish friendly breakwater maintenance (PDF, 2140.58 KB)
- Marine vegetation strategies (PDF, 2376.67 KB)
- Domestic waterfront structure and estuary bank management strategies (PDF, 5006.01 KB)
- Coastal wetland rehabilitation (PDF, 2013.93 KB)
- Climate change threats to mangrove and saltmarsh (PDF, 6171.57 KB)
- Climate change monitoring (PDF, 2023.4 KB)
- Feedback from MEMS Local Government online forum (PDF, 191.25 KB)
2019-20
- Strategy Implementation Annual Report 2019-2020 (PDF, 7183.07 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Quarter 4 (PDF, 800.14 KB)
- Status report for local government - Initiatives 1-3 - April 2020 (PDF, 1917.79 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Quarter 3 (PDF, 2246.38 KB)
- Strategy quarterly snapshot - Quarter 2 (PDF, 2152.39 KB)