UPDATE
- Chris Crossland
In December the Extension team, together with the CRC for Freshwater Ecology and Management, organised the first ever meeting of those people responsible for communications in 13 separate Cooperative Research Centres whose chief concern is with the environment. Communication is a fundamental element of CRCs, especially those deliberately established for the public good.
that more effort should be coming from Canberra to explain to the general public and the national media the concept and purpose of the CRC National Program, and
that a baseline communication audit be undertaken with all CRCs to determine levels of awareness, effectiveness of information transfer and degree of stakeholder understanding about the national program.
All researchers and others involved in this Centre can contribute to communicating our identity by introducing yourselves, whether by letter, phone or in person, as coming from the 'CRC Reef Research Centre', not simply as from 'the CRC'. 'CRC Reef' is also fine - anything to distinguish ourselves from the four others operating in our region (Aquaculture, Sugar, Tropical Rainforests and Savannas) and the 66 other Centres established nationally.
The first cut of the data has identified six distinct groups (clusters) with homogenous characteristics, all of them significantly different from the rest. The segments have been named as:
active beach resort users
low involvement group
relaxation oriented beach group
barrier reef/rainforest group
touring and sightseeing group
active nature lovers.
Townsville has a moderately even spread of visitors, with the two largest groups coming from the low involvement group and touring and sightseeing segments. Warm, sunny weather and the quiet relaxing nature of the region are important attractions to visitors.
In the Mackay/Whitsunday region the relaxation oriented beach group and the low involvement group comprise nearly 50% of the tourist market, while in the Fitzroy region the low involvement group and the touring and sightseeing group comprise 60% of the tourist market.
The data analysis is of direct use to the tourism industry in identifying the attributes which attract visitors to each region. It means that there is potential for encouraging greater numbers of the less well-represented segments by developing and promoting the range of activities which interest them. All tourism regions of Queensland have been analysed and the results will be published as a Data Publication through the QTTC. The tourism team will receive the 1994-95 data from the QTTC shortly and, when they have two sets of data, will begin to conduct regionally specific and much more detailed analyses, beginning with the far north Queensland region.
The Core of the Matter
Janice Lough and Dave Barnes at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) have contributed their knowledge of coral growth over centuries to the State of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Report being coordinated by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The ability to measure centuries-long records of annual growth contained in massive coral skeletons provides a means to objectively identify background variability in coral growth, and assess recent growth trends against a historical perspective.
Annual growth rate, annual average density and annual calcification were measured in cores removed from 35 very large colonies of the reef-building coral, Porites. The longest record dates from AD 1479 with the 10 largest colonies providing data covering the years 1746 to 1982. Average calcification for these colonies is significantly related to sea surface temperature variations on the Great Barrier Reef during the 20th century. The long coral record dramatically lengthens our perspective on long-term variability. Features of the 237-year record of these 10 colonies, which cover the length of the Great Barrier Reef, include high sea surface temperatures/coral calcification in the late 18th century and low sea surface temperatures/coral calcification in the early 19th century. This low growth period is not matched in any of the subsequent record.
There is no indication of recent, unusual declines in annual calcification that might be attributed to human activities. In fact, Lough and Barnes' report that the 20th century witnessed the second highest 50-year period (1927-1976) and the third highest ten-year period (1964-1973) of calcification across the full record. A decline in average calcification since this peak may simply represent a return to long-term average conditions. Calcification and possibly reef performance appear to be highly variable at time scales much longer than decades.
Postscript
Finally, it's good to know that we are being watched. New Scientist is anxiously awaiting our report into the spawning activity of coral trout, but I'm sorry to say they've gone quite frigid on us - little bits are frozen solid in the freezer. Full and frank information will be forthcoming however. Keep watching this space.
ADDRESS
Post Office James Cook University, Townsville Queensland 4811
Phone: (077) 81 4976 Fax: (077) 81 4099
E-mail: crcreef@jcu.edu.au Internet site: CRC Reef Research Centre Online
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
PO Box 1379 TOWNSVILLE QLD 4810. Phone: (077) 500 700, Fax: (077) 726 093
E-mail: registry@gbrmpa.gov.au