The John Brewer Reef floating hotel : a case-study in marine environmental monitoring : proceedings of a GBRMPA workshop reviewing the environmental monitoring program, held in Townsville, Australia in December 1989

Abstract

Although the John Brewer Reef Floating Hotel remained in operation for only one year from March 1988, its construction and installation triggered a major environmental assessment and monitoring program which was innovative in many ways. First, the hotel was the first of its kind in the world so the potential impacts were largely unknown and, second, there was increasing community pressure for comprehensive assessments of environmental impacts given the high conservation value placed on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - a World Heritage Area. As a result, the environmental impact assessment and monitoring procedure which was implemented was probably the most complex that had been attempted for a project of that scale in Australia and proved, in many ways, to be a pilot for studies within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park since then. The program involved many individuals and several institutions working in areas such as oceanography, water quality, biological monitoring and social impact studies, with the program coordinated by the Centre for Coastal Management at the University of New England - Northern Rivers (then known as the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education) on behalf of the proponent.