The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area ('The GBR, 'The Reef'), is one of
the great natural wonders of the world. It comprises nearly three thousand coral
reefs, hundreds of islands, and the waters, sea floor, beaches, headlands, bays,
river mouths, deltas and estuaries along more than 2,000 km of the east coast of
Queensland, reaching out 100-300 km offshore.
The GBR at a
glance
The GBR does not include the
adjacent mainland, though its well-being may be strongly influenced by what
happens anywhere east of the Great Dividing Range. Runoff of surface and
underground waters directly into the sea and into twenty major river catchments
has always influenced the coastal marine environment and the types and
productivity of their biological communities.
The Reef represents different things for different people. For many
generations of indigenous Australians, the Reef has been a cultural seascape
comprising sites of significance and resources vital to the sustenance of
indigenous cultures. Since the time of James Cook, the Reef has increasingly
provided a wide range of recreational opportunities (fishing, wilderness, mass
tourism, whale watching, diving), and has created opportunities and employment
through a range of commercial fisheries and through provision of recreational
infrastructure.
The wide community concern and respect for the ecological
systems which sustain these activities is no more strikingly demonstrated than
by the passage of the legislation in the early 1970s which created the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park and provided for its management as a multiple use area,
while specifically excluding mining and oil explorations.
During this century, human use of the Reef and the adjacent land has
contributed substantially to the economic growth and well-being of Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef alone is worth over $A 2 billion (>$US 1.3 billion)
annually to the Australian economy ($A 1.8 billion tourism, $A 0.5 billion
fishing in 1995-1996) and the projections are all upwards.
Working in collaboration with stakeholder representatives and all levels of
government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is responsible for:
- Regulation of activities within the Park (such as access, development and
harvesting of resources); and
- Informing and bringing influence to bear on policy and regulations affecting
the GBR's coastline, its hundreds of islands and the twenty Queensland
catchments whose discharges flow into its waters.
GBRMPA is among the world leaders in terms of best management practices of
coral reef areas. However, being among the world's leaders in coral reef
management by itself is no guarantee that its practices are actually good enough
for Australia to avoid the widespread declines and even collapses of coral reefs
and their fisheries experienced in many other parts of the world which are
caused by over-exploitation, destructive fishing, and land-based
pollution4.
The greatest cause for optimism for the future of the
Great Barrier Reef is the managers' explicit recognition of the need to sustain
the productivity, biodiversity and ecological processes on which the Reef's
out-standing natural qualities and wealth creation ultimately depend.
In defining its policy directions and management concerns, the GBRMPA is
largely concerned with activities of people, and therefore with complex cultural
and socio-economic issues.
The Authority is thus very reliant on information and
research within legal, cultural and socio-economic frameworks. This framework
sits alongside an ecological or 'biophysical' framework, and it is the latter
which is the focus of this article.
