Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Low

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• The region is of major importance to Traditional Owners and traditional use of and caring for their sea country reinforces Traditional Owner culture, protocols and connections to the Great Barrier Reef.
  
• The Great Barrier Reef includes many places of cultural significance to Traditional Owners. Most common are sacred sites, story places and fish traps. On many islands and in areas directly adjoining the Great Barrier Reef there are shell middens and mounds, rock shelters, stone quarries, rock art sites, hearth and oven sites and stone artefact scatters.
• Marine tourism extends throughout the Great Barrier Reef but its impacts are concentrated in a few intensively managed areas.
  

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Recognition of Indigenous occupation of Australia: Native Title Act 1993
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Owner groups with interests in the Great Barrier Reef
• Indigenous cultural heritage in the Great Barrier Reef 
• Indigenous cultural heritage sites in the Great Barrier Reef
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
• Totems, stories and ceremonies of Traditional Owners in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Story Place: Information on traditional connections to sea
• Traditional use utilises a range of marine resources
• Aboriginal fish traps and weirs of Queensland
• Fish traps of Hinchinbrook Island
• Marine and intertidal cultural heritage sites in the Great Barrier Reef
• Totems and storylines in the Cardwell: Townsville Region
• Dhui Dhui: Traditional story from Hinchinbrook region
• Diamond stingray dreaming: Traditional story from Shelburne Bay region
• Traditional stories from the Cairns region
• Reefs and the mythological system in the northern Great Barrier Reef 
  
• Healthy Country: Healthy People - Indigenous natural and cultural resource management and health
• Cultural significance of marine resources (including dugong and marine turtle) to Aboriginal communities along the Great Barrier Reef
• Cultural significance of dugong to Aboriginal communities in the Great Barrier Reef 
• Spirituality associated with culturally significant species in the Great Barrier Reef
• Spirituality associated with dugong and marine turtle in the Great Barrier Reef 
  
• Marine tourism impacts on the Great Barrier Reef 
• Impacts of tourism and recreational use on the Great Barrier Reef
• Impacts of pontoons on the Great Barrier Reef
• Moorings 
• Effects on coral from SCUBA divers 
• Impacts of fish feeding at tourist pontoons
• Effectiveness of no anchoring areas
• The impacts of cetacean watching
• Swimming with dwarf minke whales - A 
• Swimming with dwarf minke whales - B
• Tourism impacts on seabirds A
• Tourism impacts on seabirds B 

Existing policies and management actions

• Sustainable traditional use of marine resources
• A Reef-wide framework for managing traditional use of marine resources in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park  [368KB]
  
• Management of Traditional use 1
  
• Management of Traditional use 2
  
• Traditional use, management and contemporary relationships
• Cape York rangers  
• Position statement on Indigenous participation in tourism and its management [710KB]
• Indigenous participation in tourism
  
• High standard tourism operations 
• Ecocertification of Marine Park operators
• Use of tourism permissions in the Marine Park
• 15 year permits 
• Visitation with the top 50 tourism operators versus total visitation
• Tourist visitation to directly managed sites
• Policies and guidelines for managing tourism and recreational use
• Site Management Arrangements   
• Responsible Reef Practices 
• Vessel sewage management
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
• Tourism, recreation and community engagement
• Communicating with tourism and recreation stakeholders
• International recognition of tourism management achievements 
• Mon Repos turtle watching 
• National codes of conduct for turtle and dugong tourism 
• Plans of Management

Future management requirements

• Overarching Great Barrier Reef tourism strategy

Defined research questions

• There are currently no defined research questions for this topic. Research questions will be developed, giving priority to interactions/issues that are of most concern to management.

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring