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Biodiversity, reef use and socio-economics of the Ningaloo Lagoon

Research Leader:

Prof. Neil Loneragan

Project 1 - Habitats and biodiversity

Murdoch University	Dr Halina Kobryn, Dr Michael van Keulen, Assoc. Prof. Lynnath Beckley, Prof. Neil Loneragan
University of Queensland	Assoc. Prof. Greg Skilletter
Curtin University of Technology	Assoc. Prof. Merv Lynch

Project 2 - Reef use

Murdoch University

Assoc. Prof. Lynnath Beckley, Dr Halina Kobryn, Assoc. Prof. Sue Moore

Project 3 - Socio-economics of tourism

Curtin University of Technology

Prof. David Wood

Project 4 - Socio-economic integration

University of Western Australila	Dr Atakelty Hailu, Assoc. Prof. Ben White, Assoc. Prof. Michael Burton
Australian National University	Dr Tom Kompas

Key research

The Ningaloo Cluster is a major research endeavour to be undertaken by a group of eight research partners as part of the CSIRO Flagship 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 six universities (Murdoch, Curtin University of Technology, The University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan, The Australian National University, The University of Queensland), one CRC (Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre) to combine with CSIRO research with the Wealth from Oceans Flagship on management strategy evaluation for the multiple-use of marine ecosystems. This research 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 eco-tourism and the infrastructure to support this growth and the biodiversity values of the reef that are fundamental for the success of the ecotourism industry.