Abstract
The Ningaloo Cluster is a major research endeavour to be undertaken by a group of seven research partners as part of the CSIRO Flagships Collaboration Fund.
The Ningaloo Cluster will use multi-disciplinary approaches to provide knowledge and develop models to assess the mutual dependency between the Ningaloo Reef system, human use of the reef and adjacent areas and the influence of zoning regulations on human activities. Research in the cluster will provide high resolution spatial data on the habitats (remote sensing using hyperspectral data), biodiversity (field studies), and reef use (aerial flights, interviews and observations from shore), and information on the economics of tourism (surveys) and reasons for choice of activities in the region (random utility modelling, destination modelling). These data and the models developed will contribute directly to the models for Management Strategy Evaluation being developed in the Wealth from Oceans Flagship and will significantly enhance the information on human activities and socio-economic values in the region. This research will bring together researchers from a wide range of disciplines (e.g. remote sensing, marine ecology, sustainable tourism, socio-economic modelling and management strategy evaluation) from five universities (Murdoch, Curtin, University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan and the Australian National University), one CRC (Sustainable Tourism) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Combined with research on management strategy evaluation for the multiple-use of marine ecosystems in the Wealth from Oceans Flagship, it will provide the basis for much more effectively evaluating different management and development scenarios in the region e.g. the potential conflict between growth in ecotourism and the infrastructure to support this growth and the biodiversity values of the reef that are fundamental for the success of the ecotourism industry.