Tourism and Natural World Heritage: A Complicated Relationship

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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Seagrass seed bank spatial structure and function following a large-scale decline

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13668 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 665 ◽

pp. 75-87

Author(s):

JC Jarvis ◽

SA McKenna ◽

MA Rahseed

Keyword(s):

Spatial Structure ◽

Water Depth ◽

Seed Bank ◽

Large Scale ◽

Halophila Ovalis ◽

World Heritage Area ◽

Species Specific ◽

And Function ◽

Heritage Area

We examined the spatial structure (distribution, density) and function (viability) of the seagrass sediment seed bank, the storage of viable propagules (e.g. seeds, tubers, diaspores) in the sediment over time,in the northern Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in Cairns, Queensland, following a large-scale decline in seagrass area. A spatially explicit seagrass seed bank analysis was paired with a long-term annual assessment of seagrass distribution to assess seed bank spatial patterns and their relationship with the recovery and presence of seagrass, and water depth. Four years post-decline, the seed bank contained Zostera muelleri, Halodule uninervis, Halophila ovalis and Cymodocea serrulata seeds. Seed banks reflected adjacent meadow community composition; however, the density of seeds for all recorded species was significantly lower than analogous seagrass populations, indicating a reduction in the capacity for recovery from the seed bank. A spatial structure existed in both the total (viable + non-viable) and viable seed bank, and distance between seed clusters ranged from 50-550 m depending on species and seed type. Observed patterns in clustering may be explained by variation in water depth and the past distribution of seagrass in these meadows. These results demonstrate that the distribution of seagrass seeds within the seed bank, which directly influences the natural recovery of seagrass communities, is not uniform across species and may result in patchy recovery of the meadows. Therefore, the resilience provided by the seed bank in seagrass communities should not be viewed as a static level of insurance for the entire meadow, but rather as dynamic and species-specific, with variability over both space and time.

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

Marine Environmental Research ◽

10.1016/j.marenvres.2021.105543 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 105543

Author(s):

David V. Fairclough ◽

Suzanne G. Ayvazian ◽

Stephen J. Newman

Keyword(s):

Western Australia ◽

World Heritage ◽

Small Scale ◽

Shark Bay ◽

World Heritage Area ◽

Heritage Area

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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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Current status of species-level representation in faunas from selected fossil localities in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland

Alcheringa An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology ◽

10.1080/03115510608619570 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

pp. 1-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michael Archer ◽

Derrick Arena ◽

Mina Bassarova ◽

Robin Beck ◽

Karen Black ◽

...

Keyword(s):

World Heritage ◽

Species Level ◽

Current Status ◽

World Heritage Area ◽

Heritage Area

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Species Responses to Grazing and Environmental-Factors in an Arid Halophytic Shrubland Community

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt9870135 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 135 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

RB Hacker

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Soil Salinity ◽

Large Scale ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Grazing Pressure ◽

Aerial Photographs ◽

Small Scale ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Species Responses

Species responses to grazing and environmental factors were studied in an arid halophytic shrubland community in Western Australia. The grazing responses of major shrub species were defined by using reciprocal averaging ordination of botanical data, interpreted in conjunction with a similar ordination of soil chemical properties and measures of soil erosion derived from large-scale aerial photographs. An apparent small-scale interaction between grazing and soil salinity was also defined. Long-term grazing pressure is apparently reduced on localised areas of high salinity. Environmental factors affecting species distribution are complex and appear to include soil salinity, soil cationic balance, geomorphological variation and the influence of cryptogamic crusts on seedling establishment.

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