Environmental sustainability and the public: responses to a proposed marine reserve at Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

The establishment of a marine reserve at Jervis Bay was proposed in 1994. The aim of the proposal was to ensure the environmental sustainability of an important coastal resource which is subjected to multiple uses. However, there was not unanimous approval for the proposal. This paper describes the proposal and discusses the results of a sample survey carried out to obtain information about peoplesʹ use of the bay and their attitudes towards a marine reserve. A case is made for treating environmental management as conflict management and giving more attention to critics and opponents of the proposal.