Direct consultation with estuarine experts and water
resource managers will solicit estuary-specific knowledge ensuring
a balanced view based on objective criteria and subjective
system-specific knowledge. For this approach, it is adequate for
the programme manager of the NESMP to meet with relevant
estuarine specialists, conservation bodies and representatives
of the DWS regional office or catchment management agencies
to determine their opinion on the list of priority estuaries based
on the objective approach (Fig. 3). Using their local knowledge
a refined list of estuaries should be identified that are likely
to be most appropriate for monitoring based on the objective
prioritisation criteria. A similar exercise was undertaken by the