Using multiple values to inform the management of Australian marine partially protected areas
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a primary tool for conservation and protection of marine habitats and their associated marine life. However, 69% of MPAs are partially open to some form of fishing activity, either recreational or commercial (Turnbull, et al., 2021). In Australia, which has the second largest MPA network in the world, 75% of the total MPA area is partially protected (Roberts et al., 2020). While these partially protected areas (PPAs) provide economic and social benefits, this comes at the cost of reduced conservation benefits. Hence, the implementation of PPAs as a management tool to safeguard habitat and aquatic resources is underpinned by a tension to balance environmental, economic, and social values of multiple users.
Managing this balance requires that resource managers are cognisant of these diverse user values, and have an appropriate management framework to ensure that decision making results in socially optimal outcomes where possible. Decision making that does not considered these multi-user values can result in undesirable trade-offs, adverse environmental impacts, unnecessary complexity, ineffectiveness of management, inefficiency in resource use, social conflict and increased costs.
From the FRDC R&D priorities, access to aquatic resources, guided by good management, is fundamental for the continued delivery of economic and social benefits such as food, income, employment, recreation and cultural identity for all Australians. Optimising these benefits means sharing resources fairly using open and evidence-based processes within the limits of sustainability. As a first step to developing optimal multi-user management, there is a need to first review, and where possible, quantify the multiple values (environmental, economic, and social) that are attained through the implementation of PPAs.
Roberts, K. E., Hill, O., Cook, C. N. (2020). Evaluating perceptions of marine protection in Australia: Does policy match public expectation? Marine Policy 112: 103766
Turnbull, J. W., Johnston, E. L., Clark, G. F. (2021). Evaluating the social and ecological effectiveness of partially protected marine areas. Conservation Biology 35: 921-932.
Non-market values to inform decision-making and reporting in fisheries and aquaculture – an audit and gap analysis
An assessment in an animal model of the ability of mannitol and other possible antagonists to reverse the neural symptomatology of ciguatera poisoning
Final report
This is the final report for two Fishing Research and Development Grants, 1987-058 and 1988-029.
Both grants provided funds for research on Ciguatera poisoning and Ciguatoxin. Experimental studies were conducted on fish and mammals.
Both grants are specifically related to ciguatera poisoning and both will be discussed in this combined report. The format of the report is such that it gives an overview of ciguatera based on the literature, a general methods section in which the extraction and partial purification of CTX from fish is described and then sections that address how each of the specific research objectives of the initial proposals were met. At the end of the report significant outcomes and directions for future research are presented.
An electrophoretic and morphological taxonomic study of mud crabs
Study of the protective mechanisms in fish for ciguatoxin and assessment of their role in therapy of human ciguatera poisoning
Final report
This is the final report for two Fishing Research and Development Grants, 1987-058 and 1988-029.
Both grants provided funds for research on Ciguatera poisoning and Ciguatoxin. Experimental studies were conducted on fish and mammals.
Both grants are specifically related to ciguatera poisoning and both will be discussed in this combined report. The format of the report is such that it gives an overview of ciguatera based on the literature, a general methods section in which the extraction and partial purification of CTX from fish is described and then sections that address how each of the specific research objectives of the initial proposals were met. At the end of the report significant outcomes and directions for future research are presented.