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Social Vulnerability of Marine Resource Users to Extreme Weather Events

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Abstract

Knowledge of vulnerability provides the foundation for developing actions that minimize impacts and supports system views that are particularly desirable. We modified a well-established model to assess and describe the vulnerability of the two major industries dependent on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to extreme weather events. The modification entailed distinguishing between the properties that determine exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity for both the ecological and the social components of a natural resource system. We surveyed 145 commercial fishers and 62 tourism operators following a severe tropical cyclone and a major flooding event that extensively affected the region in 2011. Exposure of these industries included direct risk to life and infrastructure and indirect risk from loss of important ecosystem services. Our study found that many commercial fishers and marine-based tourism operators were sensitive to changes in the GBR’s condition and limited in their adaptive capacity. However, those with smaller businesses, higher levels of occupational identity, place attachment, formal networks, and strategic approaches also had higher levels of adaptive capacity. These results suggest that resource users with higher sensitivity to change are not necessarily the most vulnerable; sensitivity may be offset by adaptive capacity. That is, while exposure and sensitivity determine the potential impact of a climate-induced change, adaptive capacity may be a major influence on the impacts that eventuate. We empirically show that adaptive capacity is an obvious focus for climate adaptation planning.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are sincerely grateful to the 145 fishers and 62 tourism operators who agreed to participate in the study and to the six interviewers who collected the data. We would also like to acknowledge the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship for their support and funding. The map of the region was provided by GBRMPA, and Jerker Tamelander (IUCN) produced Figure 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and Climate Adaptation Flagship, ATSIP Building #145, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia

    Nadine A. Marshall

  2. Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, and the School of Earth and Environmental Science, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia

    Renae C. Tobin

  3. Great Barrier Reef, Marine Park Authority, Flinders St, Townsville, Queensland, 4810, Australia

    Paul A. Marshall & Margaret Gooch

  4. Climate Adaptation Flagship, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, Tasmania, 7000, Australia

    Alistair J. Hobday

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  1. Nadine A. Marshall
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  2. Renae C. Tobin
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  3. Paul A. Marshall
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  4. Margaret Gooch
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  5. Alistair J. Hobday
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Correspondence to Nadine A. Marshall.

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Author Contributions

NM: designed study, performed research, analysed data, contributed new models, wrote the paper; RT: performed research, analyzed data, wrote the paper; PM: conceived of and designed the study, contributed new models, wrote the paper; MG: designed study, performed research, wrote the paper; AH: contributed new models, wrote the paper.

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Marshall, N.A., Tobin, R.C., Marshall, P.A. et al. Social Vulnerability of Marine Resource Users to Extreme Weather Events. Ecosystems 16, 797–809 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9651-6

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