Views on coast surveyed

Researchers have interviewed more than 200 Kimberley residents as part of a study on how they value the region's coastline and would like to see it managed.

Murdoch University's Jennifer Strickland-Munro and her colleagues want to know which places are important to them and why.

She said the Kimberley coast was a very special place for many different people, for various reasons.

Traditional owners described the coast as "heaven, peaceful, beautiful, pristine country" and "unspoiled".

Dr Strickland-Munro said understanding people's needs and values was particularly important for the Kimberley coast and waters, with its spectacular scenery and nature, and long history of continuous occupation by Aboriginal people.

She said the Dampier Peninsula and Buccaneer Archipelago were particularly important places for Kimberley residents to camp, fish and relax.

"For planning and management to be effective, we must have a good understanding of what people value about the coast," she said.

"There has been limited documented research across the Kimberley in this regard."

"This lack of research was no exception as little attention has been paid to date in Australia or elsewhere to the social values associated with marine parks."

Dr Strickland-Munro and her colleagues asked people in the Kimberley, Perth and Darwin, to locate the places they valued on maps of the coast.

The hand-drawn information was then digitised, providing spatially linked data on social values.

Interviews focused on seven geographic areas: Darwin, Kununurra/Wyndham, Derby, Broome, the Dampier Peninsula, Eighty Mile Beach and Perth.

Local residents were interviewed along with representatives from the commercial fishing, aquaculture and resource industries.

Stakeholders from environmental non-government organisations were part of the consultations as well as those from local, State and Federal Governments.

Traditional owners provided vital input, given their relationship to sea country and role as land managers.

Dr Strickland-Munro said the results demonstrate despite difficulties accessing the rugged and remote region, the entire coastline was valued.

Values relating to the physical landscape such as aesthetics, coastal geology and the Kimberley's "pristine wild environment" were dominant.

Physical landscape and biodiversity values were present in 77 per cent and 80 per cent of all interviews, respectively.

Aboriginal culture was the third most common value at 63 per cent.

The survey is open to anyone with an interest in the Kimberley and can be found at http://www.landscapemap2.org/kimberley.

Dr Strickland-Munro said the online survey was a great way for locals to have input into the future planning and management of the coast.