Incorporating Socio-Economic Criteria into Marine Reserve Planning: Exploring trade-offs in marine reserve placement

Abstract

The world's oceans have long been considered an inexhaustible supplier of resources, a source of food, recreation, culture, and even waste disposal. It was felt by many that the quantities of offspring that fish produced and the vastness of our oceans would more than compensate for our uses. However we have seen in recent times that our oceans can only take a limited amount of abuse. The cumulative and increasing effects of pollution, disturbance and advanced extraction techniques have caused fish and other marine life shortages in most coastal areas, and throughout the world we see a number of commercial fisheries on the brink of collapse. Australia's continental shelf and slope cover some 2.5 million square kilometers and supports a significant proportion of global biodiversity. A highly variable climate and the domination of major ocean currents have provided numerous endemic species within Australia's marine environment (ASEC 2001). However, so little is known about many species, particularly in the "unique south" (Edyvane 1996), that the population status cannot be categorised of even some "iconic" species such as the inshore dolphins (ASEC 2001).