Complementary evidence for small-scale spatial assemblages of the exploited grass emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis) in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia

Effective management of a recreational fishery must include long-term monitoring programs that allow determination of trends in temporal and spatial variability of catch and effort data. Such monitoring becomes of inherently greater importance when managing a recreational fishery in a World Heritage Area, such as Shark Bay, Western Australia. Between 1998 and 2010, 11 12-month bus-route surveys of boat-based recreational fishing were undertaken at three key boat ramps in Shark Bay. These surveys demonstrated that, in response to the progressive implementation of new management measures, the estimated annual recreational fishing-boat effort decreased by 46%. As a consequence, the estimated annual retained and released catches of the key species, pink snapper (Pagrus auratus), declined and the proportions of the catches of this species that were released each year increased. Annual catches of other species also declined, however, the composition of species retained and released each year varied. The study demonstrated that monitoring of the recreational fishery within Shark Bay provided both immediate and longer-term data on the responses by recreational fishers to changes in management. This produced the information necessary to assess the effectiveness of management measures that were introduced and to modify these as required.

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Evaluating catch and mitigating risk in a multispecies, tropical, inshore shark fishery within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf10155 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 710 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Alastair V. Harry ◽

Andrew J. Tobin ◽

Colin A. Simpfendorfer ◽

David J. Welch ◽

Amos Mapleston ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Great Barrier Reef ◽

Management Strategies ◽

World Heritage ◽

Individual Species ◽

Small Scale ◽

Barrier Reef ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Gill Net ◽

World Heritage Area ◽

Heritage Area

Small-scale and artisanal fisheries for sharks exist in most inshore, tropical regions of the world. Although often important in terms of food security, their low value and inherent complexity provides an imposing hurdle to sustainable management. An observer survey of a small-scale commercial gill-net fishery operating within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area revealed at least 38 species of elasmobranch were present in the catch. Of the total elasmobranch catch, 95% was 25 species of Carcharhiniformes from the families Carcharhinidae, Hemigaleidae and Sphyrnidae. Individual species were captured in a variety of ways by the fishery, often with strongly biased sex ratios and in a variety of life stages (e.g. neonates, juveniles, adult). Despite this, the main carcharhiniform taxa captured could be qualitatively categorised into four groups based on similar catch characteristics, body size and similarities in life history: small coastal (<1000 mm); medium coastal (1000–2000 mm); large coastal/semi-pelagic (>2000 mm); and hammerheads. Such groupings can potentially be useful for simplifying management of complex multispecies fisheries. The idiosyncrasies of elasmobranch populations and how fisheries interact with them provide a challenge for management but, if properly understood, potentially offer underutilised options for designing management strategies.

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Tourism and Natural World Heritage: A Complicated Relationship

Journal of Travel Research ◽

10.1177/0047287517713723 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 57 (5) ◽

pp. 563-578 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Ralf Buckley

Keyword(s):

Private Equity ◽

Large Scale ◽

World Heritage ◽

Natural World ◽

Small Scale ◽

Legal Structure ◽

World Heritage Area ◽

Political Economic ◽

Heritage Area

There are legal, political, economic, social, and environmental links between tourism and World Heritage Areas, some straightforward but others controversial. These are examined here as aspects of a long-term, stable, but complicated, relationship. Management of small-scale mobile tourism operations is well established. It includes activities, equipment, timing, numbers, group size, marketing, fees, and permit latency. Management of large-scale fixed-site tourism infrastructure and accommodation involving private equity or operational control is more controversial. It includes legal structure of partnership arrangements, and allocation of revenues, costs, and risks. The relationship framework shows the importance of picking partners carefully and establishing mechanisms for external counseling. Research opportunities include: the marketing value of World Heritage Area (WHA) controversies; the tourism effects of In Danger declarations; funding models; and impact assessment, stakeholder roles, and co-management mechanisms, in different jurisdictions. Quantifying these effects needs large-scale compilation and comparison of case studies.

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