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Distances walked by beach users and protecting shorebird habitat from human recreation disturbance

Human population growth in coastal south-eastern Australia is increasing development and recreation pressures on beaches and shorebirds. This study observed human recreation on 18 beaches on the far north coast of New South Wales. This region supports the largest numbers of beach resident Australian Pied Oystercatchers Haematopus longirostris in the state. The most frequent activities observed were walking (29%), dog walking (21%) and swimming (16%). The mean distance walked along shore was 444 m, which is one order of magnitude greater than mean flight initiation distances for Australian Pied Oystercatchers in preceding studies. Noting that human recreation disturbance is a major conservation threat to beach nesting birds and that pro-environmental behaviour is uncommon among beach users, large separation distances between beach access points and shorebird habitat zones are recommended to reduce human intrusions into those zones. The 95th percentile distance walked was 1683 m, which is a very large separation distance but is consistent with the ecology of beach nesting birds, anecdotal evidence and is supported by the precautionary principle. This spatial zoning and passive human exclusion strategy for managing disturbance to shorebirds could be applied to long and less-developed beaches.