Marine scenic resource assessment: An international perspective

Abstract

The focus of this research was the practical application, inventory, and analysis of scenic resources of the marine environment. From an international perspective, the concept of establishing marine parks and preserves was traced and shown to be a recent phenomenon in an effort to protect pristine and unique marine areas. Unfortunately, the inclusion of marine scenic resources as a distinct element in the site planning and site design management process is at present negligible. This research presents a systematic scenic resource inventory and scenic preference testing using the Q-sort method of underwater photographic examples from three case study areas: Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary, Florida, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands and Jervis Bay, New South Wales Australia. Over three hundred volunteers rated fifteen underwater photographs from each case study area in an attempt to determine the predictive factors for scenic resource quality. Demographic information was collected from each volunteer in terms of sex, age, occupation, education, place of residence and diving experience. These background characteristics were evaluated in terms of their effect on scenic preference ratings using correlation analysis. It was demonstrated that these background factors had no significant influence on scenic preference rating. Nine seascape dimensions were selected and analyzed using multiple regression to determine if certain physiographic variables influenced preference rating. It was determined that color, marine fauna, marine flora, and water clarity were the most influential factors affecting scenic preference rating. Based on these scenic preference results, a proposed site management plan was demonstrated for each case study that could be a model for future scenic resource assessment.