The West Australia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) initiated a North West Shelf (NWS) Marine Environmental Management Study in 1998 to develop and consolidate the technical information base, scientific understanding and predictive capabilities required to underpin environmental decision making in both the public and private sectors. Documents, reports and scientific publications pertinent to the North West Shelf are abundant, but vary widely in scope and the degree of relevance to environmental management. Much of the information is from industries and associated government departments involved in exploiting and managing resources, and much of it has been activity specific and/or site specific in nature. This has created rich pockets of specialist knowledge but, unfortunately, the information has not been integrated across industries, government departments or scientific disciplines. Such integration is attractive, but difficult to achieve. As an example, the petroleum industry initiated its own review in the early 1990s to coordinate the then state of knowledge among its members, but has recently identified the need to revisit the process. As a first step in the North West Shelf Marine Environmental Management Study, DEP commissioned the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Marine Research to conduct a compilation and review of scientific research and data related to the North West Shelf marine environment. This bibliography is one product of that effort; it provides a compilation of published and unpublished literature generally related to the North West Shelf marine environment and its management. The second product, a review of scientific research and identification of important knowledge gaps, appears as a separate report by Heyward, Revill, and Sherwood (2006), titled Review of Research and Data Relevant to Marine Environmental Management of Australias North West Shelf.
