Spatial and Temporal variation in the human use of the Moreton Bay Marine Park: Impacts of new zoning

Natural Resource Management

Kenyon, Rob ; Dell, Quinton ; Tonks, Mark ; Lawrence, Emma ; Moeseneder, Chris ; Miller, Margaret ; Edgar, Steven ; Babcock, Russ

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

DOI  :  10.5072/83/58499fd05cd2c
RP-ID  :  EP115467

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

澳大利亚|英语

来源: CSIRO Research Publications Repository

【 摘 要 】

The Moreton Bay Marine Park is a large multiple use marine park (3400 km2) with zones of varying levels of protection allocated to manage representative habitats; including inshore and offshore areas. The park was re-zoned taking effect in March 2009.To document spatial and temporal trends in human use of the Marine Park before and after re-zoning, and to cover its full spatial extent, a range of ‘no-take’ Marine National Park areas (MNPs) were selected to be surveyed. The MNPs that were chosen represented a range of ecosystems and habitats; from an offshore oceanic ecosystem (10 MNPs), to an embayment ecosystem with open bay and sheltered habitats (14 MNPs). Since August 2008, 21 of the 33 MNPs in Moreton Bay have been surveyed during 18 monitoring operations (each operation consisting of several on-water surveys). In addition to those operations there were six aerial survey flights conducted (three pre- and three post-zoning). During the aerial survey component, three extra MNPs were monitored.Both the on-water and aerial surveys suggest that60% of the vessels in Moreton Bay are engaging in fishing activity, with ‘lifestyle’ vessels (vessel-based enjoyment/recreation on the bay) being the second most common activity.Our on-water surveys showed that live-aboard vessels (permanent residence on vessel), diving, sailing and jet skiing made up the other major activities in the Bay.Fishing with a rod (either with bait or lures) from a vessel makes up over 70% of the fishing activity on the Bay.The next most common behaviour was for people preparing to fish, but at rest when observed.Beach fishing either from land access or vessel access is the third most common fishing method.Crabbing with pots or dillies and trolling make up a significant portion of fishing activities.Searching for a better fishing spot also takes up a sizable portion of a fisher’s time.There were fewer fishing vessels both recreational and commercial in the future green zones after the re-zoning.Recreational fishing in the green zone areas declined from 6.3% of vessels to 3.7% after re-zoning, based on pairwise comparisons of green zones and adjacent control areas. This suggests that 6.3% of anglers were directly affected by the rezoning of an additional 15.5% of green zones in Moreton Bay and nearshore.Forty one percent of potentially displaced fishers (2.6% of all fishers) actually responded to the zoning.In contrast, the proportion of commercial fishing activity in green zone areas dropped from 25% of total commercial fishing to just 1%.However only 6 commercial vessels were seen in future green zones prior to the re-zoning and the magnitude of this trend should be interpreted with caution.The number of vessels fishing outside green zones increased in relation to adjacent control areas by the same proportion as the number inside the new green zones decreased. However, because the actual number of vessels involved was low in comparison to the overall number of vessels in the control areas, it is unlikely to have resulted in substantial impacts on biodiversity values outside the green zones.Overall numbers of vessels in the marine park survey areas were higher after the re-zoning than in the six months prior. Therefore, the re-zoning of the park did not appear to negatively influence the level of boating activity in Moreton Bay.Because of this trend, the increase in absolute numbers of vessels in control areas was predominantly due to the general increase in vessels on the bay, rather than displacement from green zones. Numbers of vessels in Conservation Park Zones (CPZs) did not vary over the period before and after re-zoning.