Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the time of European arrival. Up to one thousand generations of indigenous peoples
may have lived here.
Active management of natural resources by indigenous communities included
“firestick” management (controlled burning) of vegetation, and the trapping and on-
growing of eels in weirs constructed of stone. Some marine species were “protected”
by taboo systems—many coastal groups chose not to hunt the edible and abundant
sharks and rays, for example. The apparently near-pristine condition of Victoria's coast
impressed the first British explorers, who described an abundance of fish, mollusks,
and crustaceans in the intertidal pools (Flannery 2000). Sparked by the 1850s gold
boom, “Marvellous Melbourne” was soon one of the world's most prosperous cities.
Within a few generations, the displaced indigenous inhabitants had lost much of their
collected knowledge of the coast.
The 1898 declaration of Wilson's Promontory National Park was one of the first
outward demonstrations of growing public appreciation of Victoria's coast. A century
passed before a system of Marine Protected Areas was declared in 2002. Today's south-
ern coastal ecosystems are biologically rich, but vulnerable. Two-thirds of marine spe-
cies are considered endemic (Parks Victoria 2007). The coastal strip includes special-
ized plants and animals, but coastal land is in short supply due to housing pressure.
Human pressures and invasive species degrade and fragment terrestrial ecosystems.
Marine and intertidal ecosystems are susceptible to human pressures such as harvest-
ing of resources and the discharge of pollutants. While our relationships with the
coast are constantly redefined through social change (e.g., economic systems, local
politics), the effects of these relationships continue to manifest in biophysical change.
“Sea Change”
Today, more than ever, more Australians are choosing to live by the sea. “Sea change,”
as first described by demographer Peter Murphy (2004), relates to the current wave of
development affecting coastal towns in Australia. The term can be most simply de-
scribed as
increasing population and diversity in coastal communities
and generally ap-
plies to movement to coastal areas
outside
the major cities on the coast, such as Victo-
ria's capital, Melbourne. As a group, “sea changers” are on average younger than
average Australians (Gurran, Squire, and Blakely 2005). Victoria's Surf Coast Shire
clearly demonstrates the changes occurring in Australia's coastal areas. The Shire's
population increased 46 percent between 1985 and 2001, or around 3 percent annu-
ally, compared with the national average of 1.2 percent (ABS 2007). The growth rate
in the Surf Coast town of Torquay is currently around 5 percent annually, one of the
highest in the country (www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au).
Rapid development places pressure on coastal resources and is likely to under-
mine the natural values that attracted people in the first place. Social unease has
arisen about the issues of housing affordability for locals; the emergence of “social
cleavages” between newer, wealthier residents and the existing residents; and con-
cerns about town character and rapid changes in community structure. Gurran and
colleagues (2005) observed declines in resource-sector (fisheries, forestry, agriculture)
