Nationally the general public is developing a greater awareness about matters that relate to natural resource management and particularly the accelerating rate of degradation of coastal marine environments. However, concomitant knowledge and information that would enable the community to take a more overt role in supporting the management of these resources does not match this awareness.

There is therefore, a growing need to equip the community with relevant skills and knowledge about coastal ecosystems. The development of these skills will empower local communities and enable them to take an active role both in community based monitoring and advocacy leading in turn to improved management outcomes at local, state and national levels.

Coastal reefs provide an ideal vehicle for the development of such community based programs. These reefs are important in the provision of both food and habitat for many fisheries species and are also sites that receive high visitation rates for recreational fishing, diving and related activities. Importantly, reef systems close to metropolitan areas around Australia (and particularly the metropolitan coast of Adelaide) are degraded due to a combination of factors including waste water disposal, storm water runoff, over-fishing, invasive species and increased sediment mobility (particularly due to associated seagrass losses).

Effective mitigation and rehabilitation strategies can only be developed if managers are informed about the causal linkages between putative impacts and habitat degradation. By developing community-based programs to monitor and evaluate the status of reefs, we can make substantial progress in addressing this need .

Whereas monitoring activities need to be ongoing to provide the best opportunity for early problem detection, marine research is profoundly expensive. The use of well-trained community volunteers will provide an effective way to augment the efforts of other agencies and thus increase overall coverage of coastal ecosystems.

Fine scale management of abalone fisheries may reduce the risk of Zonal stock collapse through discreet management units permitting separate extraction controls on the basis of the population parameters specific to these areas.

Furthermore, implementation of finer scale 'management units' has the potential for better resource use through increased TACC based on the productivity of individual populations.

However, fine scale management of abalone fisheries is limited by (1) the existing knowledge on the spatial variability in growth rate, F, M, abundance and reproductive biology of abalone; (2) difficulties with ensuring effective compliance with a multitude of size limits and area TACC by commercial fishers; (3) the ability to estimate relevant minimum sizes and TACC at fine spatial scales; and (4) the ability of managers of abalone fisheries to define appropriate boundaries between 'management units'.

Consequently, there are clear needs (1) to examine the spatial variation in the fisheries biology, morphology and genetics of blacklip abalone; (2) to investigate options for effective compliance at small spatial scales; (3) to model abalone populations at fine spatial scales and (4) to utilise this information to establish a framework that assists with the developement of spatial 'management units' with appropriate MLL and TACC.

This project directly addresses one of the top priorites identified by the South Australian Abalone Fishery Management Committee (Reducing the spatial of management - priority ranking 2), as well as the fourth strategic (Enhance governance arrangements for more innovative, responsive and effective management of the resources) and third targeted priority (Stock assessment/sustainability/management) within the Natural Resources Program R&D priorities identified by the SAFRAB.