and there is no question that all of the NERP’s reef projects are highly relevant to our work’. During interviews and in survey responses, GBRMPA officers from across a broad range of the agency’s responsibilities reinforced the importance of NERP to their work (i.e. in relation to zoning boundaries, the outlook report, strategic assessment and advice to the Minister, amongst others), using words such as and and explained their close working relationship with NERP researchers. GBRMPA ‘vital’ ‘pivotal’ also noted that significant research gaps remain, even with NERP and the valuable work of the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and others. There is a new crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak developing in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and a more cost effective control method (‘one-shot kill’) has now been introduced as a result of NERP Emerging Priority funding and other collaborative efforts, with culling of starfish occurring at high priority (tourism) sites. A further NERP research project will map emerging outbreaks of crown of starfish and determine population movement trends. NERP research has also documented the risks of herbicides and terrestrial run-off to the Barrier Reef that was used in the regional prioritisation of the $200 million Reef Rescue package. (See case study under design and delivery’ below.) ‘Program The Great Barrier Reef has important economic and environmental value to Australia, and to Northern Queensland in particular. NERP research is assisting to identify and develop cost-effective approaches to its management along with the promotion of understanding and acceptance within the communities of why conservation priorities are important. In addition to producing science on which environmental policy and management agencies can make management and regulatory decisions and actions, the Hubs are also doing some of the legwork in communicating the results of their research to the community. For example, one early career scientist commented to the evaluation team that when he delivers presentations to boating and fishing clubs along the coast on the results of his research, people are eager to hear about the science. He has received feedback from attendees such as used to just ignore the government ‘I rules about not fishing in green zones, but now I actually understand why it’s important’. The perceived independence of the science is considered valuable in such forums, and has a greater acceptance than if GBRMPA were to deliver the same message.
and there is no question that all of the NERP’s reef projects are highly relevant to our work’. During interviews and in survey responses, GBRMPA officers from across a broad range of the agency’s responsibilities reinforced the importance of NERP to their work (i.e. in relation to zoning boundaries, the outlook report, strategic assessment and advice to the Minister, amongst others), using words such as ‘vital’ and ‘pivotal’ and explained their close working relationship with NERP researchers. GBRMPA also noted that significant research gaps remain, even with NERP and the valuable work of the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and others. There is a new crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak developing in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and a more cost effective control method (‘one-shot kill’) has now been introduced as a result of NERP Emerging Priority funding and other collaborative efforts, with culling of starfish occurring at high priority (tourism) sites. A further NERP research project will map emerging outbreaks of crown of starfish and determine population movement trends. NERP research has also documented the risks of herbicides and terrestrial run-off to the Barrier Reef that was used in the regional prioritisation of the $200 million Reef Rescue package. (See case study under ‘Program design and delivery’ below.) The Great Barrier Reef has important economic and environmental value to Australia, and to Northern Queensland in particular. NERP research is assisting to identify and develop cost-effective approaches to its management along with the promotion of understanding and acceptance within the communities of why conservation priorities are important. In addition to producing science on which environmental policy and management agencies can make management and regulatory decisions and actions, the Hubs are also doing some of the legwork in communicating the results of their research to the community. For example, one early career scientist commented to the evaluation team that when he delivers presentations to boating and fishing clubs along the coast on the results of his research, people are eager to hear about the science. He has received feedback from attendees such as ‘I used to just ignore the government rules about not fishing in green zones, but now I actually understand why it’s important’. The perceived independence of the science is considered valuable in such forums, and has a greater acceptance than if GBRMPA were to deliver the same message.