Quantifying Community Perceptions of Marine Environments for Marine Protected Area Planning: When is the Reef too Crowded?

Abstract

A widely accepted overall goal in marine protected area management is to allow for multiple uses that are appropriate and sustainable. An issue relevant to this goal is the quality of the experience perceived by users of marine protected areas. Understanding relationships between stakeholder values at different sites and their perceptions of crowding and other impacts is, therefore, important information for managers. As a consequence, the study reported here compares the perceptions of individuals involved in tourism, commercial and recreational fishing, scientific research, boating, yachting, and other activities with values derived from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park management and scientific databases. Surveys of regular reef users indicated that different activities were targeted at specific areas according to a combination of values that could be statistically analyzed and mapped across the region. Respondents considered that current levels of use were too high for many locations in the Cairns Sector. They preferred to see fewer people and vessels, but were more concerned by the number of vessels than the number of people. Acceptable levels of use varied widely depending on the location. At established tourism destinations and major recreational fishing sites, responses indicated that a large number of vessels (20–100) and people (100–1,000) could be tolerated. At areas visited only rarely, only low levels of use were acceptable. This suggests that there may be shifts in perceptions at sites that become used more frequently. The results have implications for management as reef use continues to increase and extend to other locations. Results from the survey were used to assess management settings to limit the level and type of activity in different areas. The techniques used have since been valuable in helping to plan for sustainable marine use in other regions in Australia and might be usefully employed elsewhere.