The value of community-based monitoring in marine protected areas

There is an increasing realisation of the importance of community or volunteer collected data for management programs that are otherwise limited by the availability of funds or resources. However, there are concerns regarding the reliability of scientific data collected by inexperienced people. We investigated the potential for community-based monitoring in Victoria’s newly established system of Marine Protected Areas. The main objectives for the study were to 1) develop a template for the scientific monitoring of marine habitats suitable for community groups, 2) assess data quality and data integrity collected by community volunteers and 3) determine a sustainable model for ongoing community participation in monitoring marine habitats. Three different habitats (subtidal, intertidal, and seagrass) were investigated and data collected by volunteers across these habitats was compared to that collected by scientists. Reliability of data collected by volunteers was dependent on habitat type and the type of measurement the volunteers were required to make. Qualitative estimates made by volunteers were highly variable across all three habitat sites, compared to quantitative data collection. Subtidal monitoring had the greatest inaccuracy for data collection, whereas intertidal reef monitoring was most reliable. Sustainability of community-based monitoring programs is dependent on adequate training for volunteers and the development of partnerships to foster greater community engagement.

Community group volunteer perceptions and awareness of Victorian marine protected areas

In 2004, a Community Based Monitoring (CBM) program for Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries was developed. A key performance area for Victoria’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) Management Strategy is community engagement. This program was developed to incorporate the key performance principles of community education, participation and engagement. CBM involves scientific protocols to monitor different habitat types in a MPA. As part of the CBM project, perceptions and values of MPAs were investigated through a pilot survey of 125 community group volunteers from 4 volunteer groups. Surveys were sent to all community group members which included participants and non-participants in the CBM program. Questions sought qualitative and quantitative information, focusing on personal values of MPAs. The surveys included questions associated with CBM, MPA management and environmental issues affecting the marine environment. Responses from the pilot study indicated that 50% of the volunteers participated in CBM to learn more about scientific research, and 30% wanted to work close to nature. This pilot study will form the basis of a larger-scale study to investigate community group perceptions of MPAs and identifying how to maintain volunteer enthusiasm, interest and motivation in a CBM program.

The nationals may be heading into the wilderness, forever

Non-union rural workers may well be attracted to Kevin Rudd. IN RECENT decades, the Nationals have defied predictions of their demise. They have weathered the passing of agrarian socialism and the rapid decline in the farm population and - after the debacle of the "Joh for PM" campaign two decades ago - the party has successfully rallied around more limited goals of political survival and influence in the Coalition. Their parliamentary representation has fallen,...

Rethinking policies for the retention of allied health professionals in rural areas : a social relations approach

Objective: Retaining allied health professionals in rural areas is a recognised problem. Generally the literature has concentrated on three elements: practitioner needs, community needs and organisational needs. There has been little attempt to focus other types of social relations in which health practitioner retention and recruitment takes place. The aim of this paper is to question the present dominant hierarchical approach taken in relation to the retention of allied health professionals in rural localities.

Methods: The data derives from a survey in Southwest Victoria, Australia. The sample was purposive rather than representative as it was intended to be exploratory in nature rather than definitive.

Results: The data indicates that there is a greater tendency for allied health professionals in private practice to be retained in rural areas than those in the public sector.

Conclusion: The paper concludes by raising some questions about the pertinence of present models for regional health initiatives since they are locked into a bureuacratic model where relationships are hierarchical and asymmetrically controlled.

Total arsenic accumulation in yabbies (Cherax Destructor Clark) exposed to elevated arsenic levels in Victorian gold mining areas, Australia

Arsenic is a proven carcinogen often found at high concentrations in association with gold and other heavy metals. The freshwater yabby, Cherax destructor Clark (Decapoda, Parastacidae), is a ubiquitous species native to Australia's central and eastern regions, with a growing international commercial market. However, in this region of Australia, yabby farmers often harvest organisms from old mine tailings dams with elevated environmental arsenic levels. Yabbies exposed to elevated environmental arsenic were found to accumulate and store as much as 100 μg/g arsenic in their tissues. The accumulation is proportional to the concentration of arsenic in the sediment and is high enough to be of concern for people who eat the yabbies. A comparison of arsenic levels in wild and lab-fed animals also was performed. Although there was no significant difference in the level of arsenic in the various organs of the wild animals, the animals purchased from a yabby farm showed a significantly higher arsenic concentration in their hepatopancreas (3.7 ± 0.9 μg/g) compared to other organs (0.6–1.8 μg/g). Furthermore, after a 40-d exposure to food containing 200 to 300 μg/g inorganic arsenic, arsenate (As[V])-exposed animals showed a significant increase in tissue-specific arsenic accumulation, whereas arsenite (As[III])-exposed animals showed a lower, nonsignificant increase in As uptake, primarily in the hepatopancreas. These results have important implications for yabby growers and consumers alike.

Ecosystem conservation in multi-tenure reserve networks : the contribution of land outside of publicly protected areas

Multi-tenure reserve networks have been developed as a mechanism to improve cross tenure management and protection of biodiversity, but also as a means of accounting for biodiversity assets managed for conservation outside of protected areas on public land. We evaluated the contribution of multi-tenure reserve networks to enhancing the comprehensiveness and representativeness of ecosystems in publicly protected areas, using three Australian case studies. All networks contributed to enhancing comprehensiveness and representativeness, but this contribution varied between networks and between components of those networks. Significantly, components on private land and "other public land" in all three networks greatly enhanced the protection of some ecosystems at a subregional scale. The Grassy Box Woodlands Conservation Management Network, in particular made a substantial contribution to conservation, with most components protecting remnants of an endangered and under-represented ecosystem. Multi-reserve conservation networks not only act to protect threatened and under-reserved ecosystems, but they also provide a mechanism to account for this protection. Thus, multi-tenure reserve networks have the potential to provide increased knowledge and understanding to conservation planning decision making processes.

Future landscapes in South-eastern Australia : the role of protected areas and biolinks in adaptation to climate change

The extent and rapidity of global climate change is the major novel threatening process to biodiversity in the 21 st century. Globally, numerous studies suggest movement of biota to higher latitudes and altitudes with increasing empirical -evidence emerging. As biota responds to the direct and consequent effects of climate change the potential to profoundly affect natural systems (including the reserve system) of south-eastern Australia is becoming evident. Climate change is projected to accelerate major environmental drivers such as drought, fire and flood regimes. Is the reserve system sufficient for biodiversity conservation under a changing climate? Australia is topographically flat, biologically mega-diverse with high species endemism, and has the driest and most variable climate of any inhabited continent. Whilst the north-south orientation and aftitude gradient of eastern Australia's forests and woodlands provides some resilience to projected climatic change, this has been eroded since European settlement, particularly in the cool-moist Bassian zone of the south-east. Following settlement, massive land-use change for agriculture and forestry caused widespread loss and fragmentation of habitats; becoming geriatric in agricultural landscapes and artificially young in forests. The reserve system persists as an archipelago of ecological islands surrounded by land uses of varying compatibility with conservation and vulnerable to global warming. The capacity for biota to adapt is limited by habitat availability. The extinction risk is exacerbated. Re-examination of earlier analysis of ecological connectivity through biolink zones confirms biolinks as an appropriate risk management response within a broader suite of measures. Areas not currently in the reserve system may be critical to the value and ecological function of biological assets of the reserve system as these assets change. Ecological need and the rise of ecosystem services, combined with changing socio-economic drivers of land-use and social values that supported the expansion of the reserve system, all suggest biolink zones represent a new, necessary and viable multi-functional landscape. This paper explores some of the key ecological elements for restoration within biolink zones (and landscapes at large) particularly through currently agricultural landscapes.

Taking environmental water requirements and climate change into account in the designation and management of protected areas for floodplain ecosystems

In 2005, the Victorian government asked the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) to 1) identify and evaluate the extent, condition, values, management, resources and uses of riverine red gum forests and associated fauna, wetlands, floodplain ecosystems and vegetation communities in northern Victoria; and 2) make recommendations relating to the conservation, protection and ecological sustainable use of public land. The design of a comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) reserve system was a key part of the recommendations made by VEAC. In order to assist in the decision-making for environmental water allocation for protected areas and other public land, a process for identifying flood-dependent natural values on the Victorian floodplains of the River Murray and its tributaries was developed.

Although some areas such as the Barmah forest are very well known, there have been few comprehensive inventories of important natural values along the Murray floodplains. For this project, VEAC sought out and compiled data on flood requirements (natural flood frequency, critical interval between floods, minimum duration of floods) for all flood-dependent ecological vegetation classes (EVCs) and threatened species along the Goulburn, Ovens, King and Murray Rivers in Victoria. The project did not include the Kerang Lakes and floodplains of the Avoca, Loddon and Campaspe Rivers. 186 threatened species and 110 EVCs (covering 224,247 ha) were identified as flood-dependent and therefore at risk from insufficient flooding.

Past environmental water allocations have targeted a variety of different natural assets (e.g. stressed red gum trees, colonial nesting waterbirds, various fish species), but consideration of the water requirements of the full suite of floodplain ecosystems and significant species has been limited. By considering the water requirements of the full range of natural assets, the effectiveness of water delivery for biodiversity can be maximised. This approach highlights the species and ecosystems most in need of water and builds on the icon sites approach to view the Murray floodplains as an interconnected system. This project also identified for the first time the flood-frequency and duration requirements for the full suite of floodplain ecosystems and significant species.

This project is the most comprehensive identification of water requirements for natural values on the floodplain to date, and is able to be used immediately to guide prioritisation of environmental watering. As more information on floodplain EVCs and species becomes available, the water requirements and distribution of values can be refined by ecologists and land and water managers. That is, the project is intended as the start of an adaptive process allowing for the incorporation of monitoring and feedback over time. The project makes it possible to transparently and easily communicate the extent to which manipulated or natural flows benefit various natural values. Quantitative and visual outputs such as maps will enable environmental managers and the public to easily see which values do and do not receive water (see http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/riverredgumfinal.htm for further details).

Adaptation to mandated restrictions on smoking in dining areas : results of an Internet survey

Objective : The study aimed to measure changes in dining behaviour associated with the introduction of smoking restrictions on July 1, 2001, to describe strategies adopted by smokers and non-smokers to adapt to the changes, and to describe some of the thoughts, feelings and beliefs underlying the adaptations that people make in response to the introduction of new restrictions.

Method : Data were collected in a longitudinal study with repeated measures of a total of 257 respondents before and after the introduction of the restrictions, using a questionnaire administered via the Internet. Data collection occurred on seven occasions between April 2001 and March 2002. In addition, a series of in-depth telephone interviews was conducted among a group of 31 smokers and non-smokers, who were interviewed once before and twice after the introduction of the bans.

Results : Dining patterns, dining frequency, restaurant choice and expenditure on a meal did not change among either smoking or non-smoking patrons following the introduction of the law. The majority of Victorians approved of smokefree dining legislation before its implementation, and agreement with the law increased sharply and significantly among both smokers and non-smokers immediately following the introduction of the policy, remaining at high levels for the duration of the study period.

Conclusions : These findings suggest there was rapid adaptation to and acceptance of the restrictions among both smokers and non-smokers, and are supported by evidence from other jurisdictions, both interstate and internationally, regarding the introduction of smokefree dining.