ABSTRACT1. Traditional community-based systems of managing coastal fisheries were (or in some cases are) successful in managing resources at sustainable levels. These systems are used as models in the present study.2. They were (or are) under-pinned by a sense of ownership and intimate knowledge of the environment in local people.3. Such features have been largely lost, as subsistence economies have been replaced by capitalist ones, and environmental management responsibilities have shifted from local communities to national or international government.4. There are, nevertheless, some examples of community-based management systems that still operate successfully and we believe that modern management practices, in general, would benefit from increased community involvement. This will require renewed emphases on feelings of ownership and increased knowledge of the environment in the general public.5. Environmental education will have a fundamental role to play in achieving this goal. However, its impact in schools and universities has been disappointingly ineffective so far in promoting a population that is sufficiently knowledgeable and well-motivated to partake meaningfully in environmental management processes.6. It is argued that educational initiatives, which involve all ages and sections of society, are required. Five promising possibilities are: (i) the participation of community groups in scientific projects; (ii) increased emphasis on life-long learning; (iii) educational campaigns; (iv) citizens' juries; and (v) the involvement of community groups in environmental planning and management processes.7. Wide-scale adoption of innovations of these kinds will require funding and this will be achieved only by national re-assessments of educational needs and priorities.
There are concerns that Cable Beach, which is of outstanding natural beauty and a major tourist attraction for Broome and the Kimberley region of northwest Australia, is suffering damage from recreational use, particularly that caused by off-road vehicles. To assess current levels of human impact on the shore and its fauna, the southern-most kilometer of the Beach, covering an area to which vehicles had access and an adjacent area closed to vehicles, was surveyed for human usage and shore crab abundance. Human usage over the recording period was high in the area with high vehicular access. The amount of litter, although considerable, was well below that recorded in We thank the following for their assistance: ] at 00:32 15 December 2014 182 J. Foster-Smith et al. some other tourist destinations elsewhere in the world. Burrows of both the ghost crabs Ocypode spp, and the sand bubbler, Scopimera inflata, were less numerous in areas of high vehicle use than those of low use. Both species may be valuable in monitoring human impacts on Cable Beach.
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