Project Leader and Host
Organisation
Professor Bruce Prideaux, James Cook University
Project Description and Objectives
For detailed descriptions of the outputs for
this project for Year 4 (2009/2010) of the MTSRF Research
Programme, see the Annual Research
Plan.
This project includes determination of the
social values of key marine species, particularly large fish around
tourist facilities, and identification of key trends and drivers of
visitor patterns in the Great Barrier Reef and an economic analysis
of the value of no-take zones to tourism in the Great Barrier
Reef.
In addition, the program will identify annual
visitor usage patterns of the Great Barrier Reef to enable the
identification of key trends and drivers of visitor patterns and
economic impacts of visitation. Impacts of tourism and visitation
to critical reef sites and sustainable levels of visitation to
these sites will be assessed. This Project will provide link with
the inshore biodiversity project (Project 4.8.7)
on Irukandii movement and habits, and the risk of human encounters
to irukandji and other marine stingers that may influence tourist
visitation.
The project is linked to Project 4.8.5
(to understand and document the influence of the 2003 Great Barrier
Reef Zoning Plan on use (tourism, recreation, and fishing) of the
GBRWHA and users) and Project 4.9.2
(Sustainable nature based tourism - planning and management). There
is potential for the project to be linked to other projects within
the MTSRF program
Key objectives of this project are to:
-
Identify relative social and economic values of key marine
species, particularly large fish around tourist facilities;
-
Evaluate management issues, risks and threats to identified
high-value species to the GBR tourism industry; and
-
Identify key trends and drivers of visitor patterns, including
assessment of the economic impacts of visitation and comparison of
the GBR with international reef tourist attractions.
