Gone fishing! Marine resource usage in the Rottnest Island Reserve, Western Australia

Rottnest Island, located off the coast of Perth, has iconic status as a recreation destination for Western Australians. Although the island and surrounding waters (within 800m) have legal standing as the Rottnest Island Reserve, the conservation status remains somewhat enigmatic with terrestrial fauna and flora fully protected but the marine biota only subject to standard WA fisheries regulations. Half a million people visit the island annually and a large proportion of visitors engage in extractive or non-extractive marine resource usage. A multi-facetted study to investigate usage patterns (fishing, boating, diving, surfing etc) is underway. Results from an on-site questionnaire survey of shore anglers are presented here. The survey was conducted on weekends over a 12-month period in 2002/2003 and anglers were intercepted and interviewed while fishing around the island. Results on demographics of the shore anglers, frequency and patterns of use, socio-economic indicators (residential suburb, travel estimators and direct expenditure on bait and equipment) and actual catch are presented. In addition, the extent of support by the recreational angling user group for Western Australian fisheries management and biodiversity conservation measures is reported on