Conserving Marine Environments: Out of Sight Out of Mind

Abstract

This publication comprises proceedings of a marine conservation forum. Why are marine environments ?out of sight out of mind?? Good question, however, I was a little disappointed to find that generally it was not addressed and consequently, I do not believe that this forum has done much to progress marine conservation. For the most part it was only Harry Recher?s forward and the Summary paper by Pat Hutchings and Dan Lunney, which made an attempt to answer this question; they argued for, at least to some extent, the human aspect of marine conservation. That might be a little unfair on Sarah Fairfull and Robert Williams, who in presenting the new age of regional delivery of natural resource management through acknowledged peak regional groups, also acknowledge the role that communities can now serve in setting conservation priorities.