Geographical process

Introduction

The case study chosen for this topic explores issues surrounding coastal tourism development in areas adjacent to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef (GBR). It focuses specifically on proposals to develop a tourist resort at Port Hinchinbrook and the processes of management involved in this controversial issue, which dates back to the late 1980s. The development of Port Hinchinbrook highlights the complexities of the environmental management process when it involves a considerable number of stakeholders with often diametrically opposed opinions. It also raises questions surrounding the sustainability of the tourism industry and its often precarious relationship with the environmental conservation movement, and the problems which can arise when environmental issues emerge in areas where federal and State jurisdictions overlap.

Tourism in the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the world's largest continuous coral reef system. It is also the largest structure on Earth made up entirely of living organisms. Stretching for over 2000 km along the north-eastern coast of Australia, it is an intricate system of 3000 coral reefs, over 900 islands (27 of which house tourist resorts) and a stunning array of unique marine life, including about 1500 different fish species.

Tourism is an industry of huge commercial significance in the GBR. Each year over one and a half million people visit the region, fuelling an industry worth in excess of $1 billion annually. As the primary generator of income in the area, tourism has created many employment opportunities and helped promote ecological conservation in the GBR. It is now one of the most well-known and frequented ecotourism areas in the world.

Management of tourism-related issues in the GBR falls into the hands of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), a body set up by the Australian Government and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS). These organisations oversee activities relating to tourism in the GBR by devising management plans and issuing permits stipulating what can and cannot be done in certain areas.

There are many types of activities that attract tourists to the GBR, including snorkelling, diving, fishing and whale-watching. This case study, however, focuses on the impacts of construction activities and population pressures associated with a coastal tourism development in the Hinchinbrook region of northern Queensland, an area adjacent to the GBR World Heritage Area.

The Hinchinbrook region of Northern Queensland

The Hinchinbrook region lies about halfway between Cairns and Townsville, at the meeting point of the GBR and the Wet Tropics area of northern Queensland. See image 1

The Hinchinbrook region includes the World Heritage sites of Hinchinbrook Island and the Hinchinbrook Channel. The former, Australia's largest island national park, comprises pristine tropical rainforests and creeks that are rich in biodiversity. The latter houses one of Australia's largest areas of seagrass biomass (plant matter). This is an important feeding and breeding ground for endangered Dugong populations that live in the channel. The Hinchinbrook Channel is also home to green turtles and the Irrawaddy, Indo-Pacific Humpback and bottlenose species of dolphin. The foreshores of the mainland and Hinchinbrook Island also boast one of the largest sections of mangrove forests in Australia. This forms the habitat of numerous birds and marine species, including crocodiles. See images 2 and 3

Tourism development in the Hinchinbrook region

Key environmental impacts

Some of the most significant impacts of coastal tourism development are those resulting from increased human populations. These include infrastructure challenges (such as more demand for energy, water, accommodation and transport) and pollution challenges (such as disposal of sewerage and other forms of human-induced waste). The construction of tourism facilities also results in changes to the physical landscape of host sites, including damage to vegetation in surrounding areas and subsequent habitat destruction. Another environmental factor that warrants consideration is water degradation resulting from boating activities in ports and marinas.

In relation to the development of the marina at Port Hinchinbrook, the process of dredging the Hinchinbrook Channel so that large boats could have all-tide and all-weather access to the marina was one of the key environmental concerns. The process of dredging involves removing sediment from the seabed to deepen a waterway. Dredging therefore disrupts the natural properties of the waterway and can destroy the habitats of marine species that live there. In the case of the Hinchinbrook Channel, dredging would hinder growth of the seagrass and therefore pose a risk to species that depend on it for their survival. As mentioned, threatened Dugong populations rely on the seagrass in the Hinchinbrook Channel as a source of food and use the area as a breeding ground. See animation 1

Brief history of the Port Hinchinbrook development

Tekin Australia Ltd. began construction at Port Hinchinbrook in 1988. Works ceased, however, the following year, when the company went bankrupt. The mainland foreshore site, from which mangroves had already been illegally removed, was subsequently abandoned for five years. In 1993, a company called Cardwell Properties Pty Ltd (CP) purchased the site and put forth a new proposal for developing Port Hinchinbrook. This second proposal included plans for a development with an even bigger accommodation capacity, as well as plans to recommence dredging of the channel to make way for construction of the wharf and marina.

CP began construction of the new resort in 1994 but was stopped soon after by the Keating Labor Government of the time, which deemed the continuation of dredging activities and removal of mangroves a threat to the World Heritage values of the Hinchinbrook Channel, Hinchinbrook Island and the GBR. Two years later, the development was again able to proceed when the newly-elected Howard Liberal/National Party Coalition government reversed the decision to ban dredging and mangrove removal.

This decision and the resulting impacts it had for the Hinchinbrook region will form the basis of the remaining chapters of this case study, which will explore the perceptions of different stakeholders to the general issue of the development (Chapter Two); the decision-making processes that determined its management (Chapter Three); the responses that management of the issue received from various groups and individuals (Chapter Four) and the implications that the Port Hinchinbrook case has for sustainability, social justice and equity (Chapter Five).