Community vitality
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Residents
Residents have a very positive association with the GBR, given that the first words that came to mind when they thought of the GBR were; beautiful (15%), coral (12.5%), and fish (6.2%). Health and wellbeing were very much intertwined with that of the GBR. Some 79.7%, “value the GBR because it makes [them] feel better physically and/or mentally”. Only 20.6%, “would not be personally affected if the health of the GBR declined”, and 71.8% suggested that, “thinking about coral bleaching makes [them] feel depressed”. Residents were particularly worried about coral condition, freshwater ways, and rubbish on the beaches in their region, and worried about mangrove health, and estuarine and marine fish. For example, only 40.5% of residents stated that, “the coral reefs in [their] region are in good condition”.
Tourists
Tourists have a very strong positive association with the GBR, where the first words that came to mind when thinking of the GBR were; ‘beautiful’ (16.5%), ‘coral’ (15.8%) and ‘fish’ (8.2%). Some 64.0% of tourists, “value the GBR because it makes [them] feel better physically and/or mentally”, and 50.9% suggested that, “the GBR contributes to [their] quality of life and wellbeing”. Some 59.5% suggested that, “thinking about coral bleaching makes [them] feel depressed”. Around 58% of tourists paid to go on an organised tour.
Tourism operators
Tourism operators’ first words that came to mind were coral (13.8%), beautiful (6.3%), and fishing (4%), suggesting a strong positive association. Only 4.4% reported that they, “would not be personally affected if the health of the GBR declined”, and 89.2% stated that, “the GBR contributes to [their] quality of life and wellbeing”, where 61.1% suggested that, “thinking about coral bleaching makes [they] feel depressed”. Only 59.1% stated that they, “feel optimistic about the future of the GBR”. Tourism operators were moderately satisfied with the condition of the environment in their region. For example, 56.0% stated that, “the coral reefs in [their] region are in good condition”. Only 20.2% were, “not worried about climate change impacts on the GBR Tourism operators have been working within the region for a mean of 24.0 years.
Commercial fishers
Commercial fishers have a strong positive association with the GBR given that the first words that came to mind when they thought of the GBR were beautiful (15%), coral (13.9%) and fish (7.1%). In terms of health, only 3.3% of commercial fishers reported that they, “would not be personally affected if the health of the GBR declined”, but only 37.9% suggested that, “thinking about coral bleaching makes [them] feel depressed”. Some 82.0% stated that, “the GBR contributes to [their] quality of life and wellbeing”. Some 77.9% stated that, “the coral reefs in [their] region are in good condition”, and 79.8% thought that the, “estuarine and marine fish in [their] region are in good condition”.
National Residents
The relationship that Australians have with the GBR is still mostly positive as the first words that came to mind were fish, beautiful and coral, however since 2013, words such as dying, deterioration, endangered, and bleaching have increased significantly. Australians see that climate change, pollution and agricultural run-off are the biggest threats to the GBR. Since 2013, almost all perceived threats have increased in mentions, particularly littering and crown of thorns starfish. The perceived threat of cyclones and tropical storms has almost doubled since March 2016. The GBR is still considered Australia’s most inspiring landmark (30%), however, people are finding the GBR less inspiring since 2013, but this decline is consistent across all landmarks.
Explore the data
You can also explore the data yourself using our interactive dashboards below – use the filters provided to explore the results by participant type, age, gender, NRM, LGA and GBRMPA management areas. Click the arrow on the bottom right corner of the dasboard to view in Full Screen mode. Also click the > arrow to move through the tabs on each dashboard.
Community health
Satisfaction
Well-being
Relationship with GBR
Resource use and resource user profiles