Differences in perception of a newly created Marine Park in south-west Western Australia by boat-based recreational fishers and the broader community

Community acceptance of Marine Parks is widely acknowledged as being critical for success. Where community stewardship and voluntary compliance have been achieved, there are fewer issues with non-compliance of zoning regulations. Probability-based surveys that are representative of the wider community can improve understanding of community perceptions prior to and following establishment of Marine Parks. Understanding attitudes towards newly created Marine Parks among user groups provides valuable information for the design of education and engagement programs, while also creating a benchmark to compare changes over time. A survey of community perceptions and awareness regarding the recently created Ngari Capes Marine Park in south-west Western Australia was measured via a randomised telephone survey of local and non-local boat-based recreational fishers; and local residents (including non-fishers and shore/boat fishers). This survey also evaluated other recreational uses of the park and how these activities were valued, knowledge of Marine Park zones, and how information about Marine Parks was being accessed. Participation in recreational fishing within Ngari Capes was above average and a supportive attitude towards the park was apparent. Boat-based recreational fishers displayed a higher degree of concern about fishing restrictions compared to local residents, but overall were supportive of the Marine Park. Across all user groups there was low awareness of the Ngari Capes Marine Park and poor understanding of Marine Parks. A lack of clarity regarding the likely benefits of the Ngari Capes Marine Park was apparent, implying a need to improve public communication and community engagement.     

Beliefs about Ecological Impacts Predict Deer Acceptance Capacity and Hunting Support

Ecological impacts of deer overbrowsing often lead resource managers to recommend deer control through hunting, which may be strongly opposed by local residents. Adaptive impact management argues that understanding wildlife impacts of concern to the public can improve wildlife management. However, research on public wildlife acceptance capacity for deer, and on support for hunting, has emphasized concerns about household impacts and deer well-being, general environmental beliefs and attitudes, and beliefs about consequences of hunting, but not public concerns about deer ecological impacts. Our survey of neighbors of urban wetlands shows that beliefs about deer ecological impacts are statistically significant predictors of deer acceptance capacity and of support for hunting, controlling for other factors. Including ecological-impact beliefs adds substantially to the explained variance in deer acceptance capacity, and slightly to the explained variance in support for hunting.     

Local perceptions about forests and water in two tropical catchments

This study was performed to assess how local inhabitants in two tropical watersheds value forests and perceive both forests and their own capacity to influence the hydrological cycle. Both service and productivity functions were strongly valued, particularly forests' rain-bringing capacity. The view that forests are directly responsible for increased precipitation was especially strong in low rainfall areas. Forests were also seen as important for their ability to retain soil water. The human activity most often mentioned as affecting water availability was tree planting while water conservation structures were not seen as detrimentally affecting others. Water was pictured very strongly as being part of a cycle so that which is used by humans or trees is not considered lost but only displaced to return again as rain. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Narratives and water: A bibliometric review

Social and environmental sciences have shown that narratives have significant impact on human behaviour. Understanding water narratives can therefore help policy-makers understand and regulate public behaviour. We carry out a bibliometric analysis of water narratives, which gives us a broad overview of the types of work, collaborations and key insights. We couple this with a smaller qualitative review, which enabled us to construct a typology that captures the range of themes found in the literature. Narratives might be classified along an axis of expert and local knowledge and an axis of time – retrospective and prospective. We also show that narratives are a useful tool for legitimation and mobilization, and a form of “System 1” heuristic. Given that so many water challenges are tied to human activities, an understanding of water narratives and the link to behavioural change would be a useful part of future research agendas.     

Review of participatory fisheries management arrangements in the European Union

Promoting and attaining sustainable use of resources through community participation is a central tenet of the European Union's (EU) 2013 Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. A systematic review approach was used to identify participatory fisheries management arrangements within the EU. Following this, the participatory arrangements were categorized based on the nature of the decision-making arrangement, influence and empowerment of the fishing industry. The study identified 40 management arrangements distributed through 8 member states, with a variety of fisheries and institutional settings for participation in fisheries management in the EU. The majority of the partnerships identified are “Functional participation”, i.e., the participatory arrangement is based in pre-determined goals encouraged by higher decision-making levels in order to increase efficiency of management decisions. Interactive partnership was the highest level of participation identified in the systematic review, and is usually more conducive with local arrangements in coastal and small-scale fisheries targeting low mobility species.     

Locational and socio-economic variation in public perceptions of economics and the environment

Government policies for the use of publicly owned environmental resources in Australia are often justified as being for the economic good of the nation. Yet there has been little enquiry about how Australians perceive economic good in the context of the use of environmental resources. The residents of five State government electorates of Perth and one in regional south west Western Australia were surveyed. Their perceptions of economics, the environment and resources in relation to public policy were assessed. The differences in the responses were greater between the different electorates, than between the different socio-economic strata within the same electorate. This paper examines the spatial variability of the results and raises the possibility of developing a socio-locational indicator of attitudes which could provide a tool for policy implementation.     

Syllabus change,student learning and teacher experiences

The new Republic of Ireland Leaving Certificate geography programme (taken by 16- to 18-year-olds), which was first examined in 2006, marked a major change in approach from its predecessor. This paper presents the results of a study that explored the learning outcomes in light of the stated aspirations of the syllabus, teacher perceptions and of society's expressed concerns about the nature of education today. Research data were obtained via interviews with teachers and questionnaire surveys with participants. The results from this study indicate that the new programme appears to have some impact on learning outcomes, both positive and negative.     

Contested claims over space and identity between fishers and the oil industry in Mexico

This essay examines neoliberal forms of resource governance and emerging struggles over control of sea space between coastal fishers, the para-statal oil industry and government authorities in the State of Tabasco, Mexico. The analysis focuses on the changing mechanisms of resource governance and networking related to contested claims over rights to offshore space. The study is based on material collected during ethnographic field research in Tabasco in 2011–2014. By linking a post-Foucauldian approach to governmentality with a Deleuzian perspective on networks, our research examines resource governance as a socio-political arena, constructed in negotiation between multiple governmental, private and civil society actors, including heterogeneous groups from local populations. The study demonstrates how hybrid techniques of resource governance lead to fishers’ socio-spatial displacement, marginalization in the fields of political representation and subjection to ideas of aquaculture entrepreneurship. The ensemble of private regulation and governmental control provides a venue for drawing fishers into clientelist practices of governing while it diffuses questions of responsibility. These modes of governance fragment the fishers’ efforts to mobilize politically, making them rely on less visible networks of contestation shaped by heterogeneous fishing groups, with varying access to resources and political representation. Recent transformations in environmental legislation and the fishers’ mobile tactics of networking may offer opportunities for them to reclaim their resource rights.     

We are not all the same!: Comparative climate change vulnerabilities among fishers in Old Harbour Bay,Jamaica

There is a general consensus that Small Island Developing States are among the most vulnerable to experience climate injustices. Vulnerability studies of climate change effects on communities have often focused on differences between communities given these climate injustices. However, there is a need to also focus on vulnerability within communities, referred to here as comparative vulnerabilities. Climate justice therefore becomes even more important with more focused attention given to the nuances within groups that fall within the vulnerable category. This article examines comparative vulnerabilities for the fishing community in Jamaica. A survey of 241 fishers from Old Harbour Bay, the largest fishing village in Jamaica, was conducted to examine the level of vulnerability of different fishers to climate change. A vulnerability index was constructed for the community and then comparative vulnerabilities were determined based on socio-demographic characteristics. Overall for the sample 46.9% of respondents would be considered as experiencing a comparatively high level of vulnerability to climate change. Climate change vulnerability was influenced by a number of socio-demographic variables with unique profiles emerging for groups that can be ranked as low, moderate, and high vulnerability. The paper therefore argues that within vulnerable populations there are comparative vulnerabilities based on economic factors and social capital, which must be taken into consideration for adaptation strategies to be implemented. Given these comparative vulnerabilities a more targeted approach to coping and adaptation strategies can then be taken. This will assist in building resilience of these communities that must now adjust to a new normal with climate change effects currently occurring.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Redundant Spaces in Cities and Regions? Studies in Industrial Decline and Social Change . J. Anderson, S. Duncan and R. Hudson. eds. The Social Consequences and Challenges of New Agricultural Technologies . Gigi M. Berardi and Charles C. Geisler, eds. Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries, Vol. I, Supply and Demand for Children . Rodolfo A. Bultao and Ronald D. Lee, eds. Computer Mapping: Progress in the‘80s . James R. Carter. Washington: Colonial Africa . A. J. Christopher. Geography of the Soviet Union . J. P. Cole. Chicago Mapmakers, Essays on the Rise of the City's Map Trade . Michael P. Conzen, ed. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England . William Cronon. Mizner's Florida: American Resort Architecture . Donald W. Curl. Geographical Studies on the Soviet Union: Essays in Honor of Chauncy D. Harris . George Demko and Roland J. Fuchs, eds. Fluvial Hydrology . S. Lawrence Dingman. Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Struggle For a Precious Resource . Charles T. DuMars, Marilyn O'Leary and Albert E. Utton. Women in the Cities of Asia: Migration and Urban Adaptation . James T. Fawcett, Siew-Ean Khoo, and Peter C. Smith, eds. America's National Parks and Their Keepers . Ronald A. Foresta. Neighborhood Revitalization and the Postindustrial City . Dennis E. Gale. China in Canada: A Dialogue on Resources and Development . R. Louis Gentilcore, ed. China: The 80s Era . Norton Ginsburg and Bernard A. Lalor, eds. Boulder, CO: Global Resources: Challenges of Interdependence . Martin I. Glassner, ed. River Networks . Texas: A Geography . Terry G. Jordan with John L. Bean, Jr. and William M. Holmes. The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process . Kenneth E. Lewis. Water Resources, Geography and Law . Olen Paul Matthews. A Field Guide to American Houses . Virginia and Lee McAlester. Population: Patterns, Dynamics, and Prospects . James L. Newman and Gordon E. Matzke. Wood, Brick, and Stone, The North American Settlement Landscape, Vol. 1: Houses . Allen G. Noble. Historical Analysis in Geography . William Norton. The Displaced Worker and Community Response: Case Study of Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio . H. Milton Patton and Janet W. Patton. Disaster Management: Warning Response and Community Relocation . Ronald W. Perry and Alvin H. Muskatel. The Anthropology of Space: Explorations into the Natural Philosophy and Semantics of the Navajo . Rik Pinxten, Ingrid van Dooren, and Frank Harvey. What STYLE Is It? A Guide To American Architecture . John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers, Jr., and Nancy B. Schwartz. Appalachia: A Regional Geography—Land, People and Development . Karl Raitz and Richard Ulack. An Introduction to Urban Geography . John R. Short. Ford, A Village in the West Highlands of Scotland: A Case Study of Repopulation and Social Change in a Small Community . John B. Stephenson. Income and Jobs: USA Diagnosing the Reality . George Sternlieb and James W. Hughes. Weather and Climate of the Antarctic . W. Schwerdtfeger. History and Ecology: Studies of the Grassland, James C. Malin . Robert P. Swierenga, ed. Optimal Control of Spatial Systems . K. C. Tan and R. J. Bennett. Social Science and Revolutions . Stan Taylor. The Global Textile Industry . Brian Toyne, Jeffrey S. Arpan, David A. Ricks, Terence A. Shimp and Andy Barnett. Integrated Water Development: Water Use and Conservation Practice in Western Colorado . James L. Wescoat, Jr. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Maps and Graphics for the Visually Handicapped . Joseph W. Wiedel, ed.