Halina T. Kobryn

Context: Cockburn Sound is the most intensively used embayment in Western Australia (WA), including industrial use as well as a wide range of recreational activities and associated values. The Western Australia Environmental Protection Authority identified general recreational use as a significant component of the social and aesthetic values of Cockburn Sound that pre-dates its industrial development. Consequently, Cockburn Sound is a highly contested and increasingly congested space. While Cockburn Sound hosts a range of recreational activities, much of the management attention is on recreational fishing while non-fishing recreational activities have received relatively less attention. Therefore, this project focused on understanding non-fishing recreational activities and values in the Sound. Mapping non fishing recreational use activities and associated values provides spatially explicit information on how Cockburn Sound is used and valued through a broad range of activities that represent the complex public recreational use context for Cockburn Sound management and the Westport development.

Project Aims:
• Identify the range and spatial extent of non-fishing recreational activities and associated values
• Provide an economic valuation for key recreational sites identified by the PPGIS process
• Provide a detailed understanding of non-fishing recreational activities and values

Method A public participation GIS (PPGIS) approach was used to map the variety and types of non-fishing recreational activities and associated values in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia. An online questionnaire was developed using the Maptionnaire online PPGIS survey tool as a platform (Maptionnaire 2022). The questionnaire gathered respondent data including demographics, frequency of visit and mode of travel to Cockburn Sound. Respondents used an interactive map to place specific points and/or lines relating to a recreational activity they undertake in Cockburn Sound. Water-based and land-based activities were mapped separately by respondents during the survey. Respondents could place as many activities as lines or points as they wished. Respondents also indicated one or more values they associated with each of the recreational activities they mapped. The activities and values were selected by respondents from drop-down lists. The lists were developed by the project team based on a review of relevant literature. A travel cost model approach was used to evaluate the monetary value attributable to recreational use of key sites in Cockburn Sound. The PPGIS questionnaire was distributed online between August 2022 and February 2023 using a range of methods including recreational clubs distributing online via their social media platforms and member contact lists, notices with a QR code placed in local community centres and businesses, and the WAMSI social media platforms.

Key Findings The questionnaire received 597 responses and a total of 31 non-fishing recreational activities were identified and mapped in Cockburn Sound including 16 land-based activities and 15 water-based activities. A considerable proportion of survey respondents were members of a club or organization associated with the recreational activity mapped by the respondent (approximately 75%).

The northern end of the study area (Woodman Point Reserve) was most frequently visited by survey respondents for both land and water-based recreational activities. This likely to be related to accessibility and facilities in this area of the Sound.

Mapped land-based activities were concentrated at the northern (Woodman Point Reserve), and southern (Rockingham foreshore and Cape Peron) areas of the Sound with an additional concentration adjacent to and just south of the Beeliar Regional Park shoreline area.

Mapped water-based activities covered the entire Cockburn Sound area as well as areas to the west of Garden Island.

The entire study area was associated with one or more recreational activity values. The most commonly allocated values included ‘have fun’, ‘improve physical health’ and ‘socialise with friends and family’.

The travel cost analysis was restricted by the small number of respondents providing the required data for each activity in each zone defined for the analysis. In person intercept surveys would provide more comprehensive data but project budget limitations meant this method was not possible.

Some activities had adequate data, including horse riding/exercising, beach activities and walking/running activities. The estimated value of a trip to the Naval Base horse beach was $14.75 per trip, which was relatively high compared to other beach activity value studies. The estimated value of a trip for beach activities was between $6.74 and $7.35 per trip. Walking and running activities were valued between $3.19 and $4.09 per trip.

Online PPGIS tools enable collection of data from a large and/or dispersed population within a limited time frame and budget. However, there is a trade-off between acquiring a large enough sample within a short time frame and the depth and quality of the data.

Conclusions Both land and water-based recreational users value the entire Cockburn Sound area to fulfil a diverse set of activities. This means the recreational carrying capacity of the region may be relatively high in this respect. However, there are several specialised and spatially focused recreational activities which should be considered in planning decisions.

This is the second technical report produced from the Western Australian Marine Science Institution Kimberley Research Node Project 2.1.2 Values and aspirations for coastal waters of the Kimberley. The study area encompasses all State coastal waters extending from the south western end of Eighty Mile Beach to the Northern Territory Border (Simpson 2011). A primary focus of the funding for this research, by the Western Australian Government, is to support the management of the proposed marine parks at Eighty Mile Beach, Roebuck Bay, Lalang-garram (Camden Sound), Horizontal Falls and North Kimberley (Figure 1). This research also encompasses the surrounding marine environment which includes Commonwealth marine parks as well as non-marine park waters.

This is the first report from the “Values and aspirations for coastal waters of the Kimberley” research project funded by the Western Australian Government and administered by the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (Kimberley Research Node Project 2.1.2). The study area extends from the south western end of Eighty Mile Beach to the Northern Territory Border, a coastline 13,296 km in length at low water mark including the islands. The aim of this 3-year research project is to document and analyse the social values and aspirations of people associated with the existing and proposed marine parks at Eighty Mile Beach, Roebuck Bay, Lalang-garram (Camden Sound) and North Kimberley, and with other coastal waters of the Kimberley.

The information provided by the remote sensing data was used to detect and map the distribution of seabed habitats such as sand, limestone pavement, rubble, macroalgae, hard and soft coral as well as different coral growth forms, and a classification was allocated. The classifications were then checked against information collected from previous biodiversity studies that included habitat information from nearly 3,500 points in the Ningaloo lagoon. Information about the depth contours were also obtained from the data and used to model how depth changes throughout the lagoon and to understand the distribution of seabed habitat cover. In coastal areas the aim was to map the network of roads and tracks, describe the vegetation cover and map areas which have low or no vegetative cover. This work has shown that it is possible to map coral reef habitats over large areas using remote sensing and this technique is well suited for semi-automated mapping tasks.

This project has provided a robust benchmark on the extent of human use of Ningaloo Marine Park during 2007. The data have high spatial and temporal resolution and are in a geo-referenced format which has allowed both assessment of spatio-temporal patterns as well as detailed understanding of recreational activities conducted in various areas of the park. The use of Ningaloo Marine Park is markedly seasonal with a clear increase in the number of users, and expansion of their spatial extent to cover most of the park, during the period April to October. In the off-season (November to March), people conducting activities in the park are fewer and largely concentrated in Coral Bay and around North West Cape. A wide range of extractive activities, such as recreational fishing, and non-extractive activities including snorkelling, surfing, sailing sports, relaxing on the beach and walking are conducted in the park. The demographic characteristics of people engaged in activities differed significantly between various areas and were related to road/track access, accommodation opportunities and tenure of the land adjacent to the park. Travel network analysis on how coastal roads, tracks and boat launching areas are utilised highlighted node-based patterns of use as well as rapid decay in use with distance from access points. The multivariate multiple regression model of environmental variables plus auto-correlative components explained about 54 % of the observed variation in recreational use with the major explanatory variables being sealed roads accessible by tourist buses and camping opportunities adjacent to the park. The results of the project provide a basis for enhanced management, readily measurable indicators for monitoring and are well-suited to systematic conservation planning for the next iteration of the Ningaloo Marine Park Management Plan.

This project forms part of the Wealth from Oceans Flagship Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster. The main objectives are (1) to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of recreational activities (e.g., fishing, diving, snorkelling, kayaking, surfing etc) within the reef lagoon system at Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP) and (2) to relate distribution patterns to factors such as biodiversity, physical conditions, park zoning, access roads and accommodation nodes.

This study was undertaken to estimate the biomasses, biologically sustainable catches and current average annual commercial catches of three fished species of abalone, Haliotis roei (Roei), Haliotis laevigata (Greenlip) and Haliotis conicopora (Brownlip) in the proposed sanctuaries of the Capes Marine Park, south-western Australia. The current annual, catch estimates represent the catches that would be foregone by commercial fishers if the sanctuaries are implemented and will be used to evaluate the potential compensation to fishers (not part of this study). The biomass and catch estimates for each species in the proposed sanctuaries were estimated from a combination of scientific survey data and commercial catch information (provided by fishers) for the proposed sanctuaries. It should be noted that the design, field surveys, analyses of data and writing of this report had to be completed in less than a year, which limited the scope of this study. Commercial abalone fishers who operate in the Capes area were consulted to identify areas where commercial quantities of abalone were known to occur within the proposed sanctuaries. Of the 12 proposed sanctuaries, three were identified as containing commercial stocks of Roei, with one of those zones, i.e. Cape Naturaliste, having two optional configurations. Four sanctuaries were identified with commercial stocks of both Greenlip and Brownlip. Roei, which occur over intertidal and shallow, subtidal reefs, were sampled using 0.5 m2 quadrats along 34 transect lines (136 quadrats) set perpendicular to the shore. Greenlip and Brownlip, which are found in deeper waters over reefs, were sampled using 30 m2 transects (2 transects per site) at 116 randomly selected sites (232 transects) within the areas identified by commercial fishers. The numbers and shell lengths of all abalone were recorded, and length-weight (total and bled meat weight) relationships were determined for each species from sub-samples taken from a range of sites, which thereby enabled estimation of the weights of all individual abalone recorded in the surveys. For all three abalone species of abalone, industry harvests abalone at lengths above the minimum legal length (MLL) for capture. The minimum size at which Roei is harvested commercially in the Capes region is 70 or 75 mm, depending on location within the region (cf. 60 mm MLL); minimum sizes for Greenlip and Brownlip in the region range from 150 to 153 mm (cf. 140 mm MLL for Greenlip and Brownlip). Between 15 and 39% of Roei measured in the proposed sanctuaries surveyed were above the respective minimum size at which it is harvested commercially in those areas. In comparison, nearly half of the Greenlip and Brownlip in the proposed sanctuaries were above the minimum size at which these species are harvested in those areas.

This project is part of the CSIRO Flagship Wealth from Oceans, Ningaloo Cluster: “Reef use, biodiversity and socio economics for integrated management strategy evaluation of Ningaloo”. This project is run from Murdoch University in collaboration with Curtin and Queensland Universities. Airborne hyperspectral data have been acquired by HyVista through the efforts of AIMS and sponsored by BHP Billiton. The project is focusing on the mapping of habitats and biodiversity of the Ningaloo Marine Park. This is being achieved through a combination of state-of-the-art hyperspectral remote sensing techniques, coupled with biodiversity field surveys of the area.