DOG management and dog access to beach areas were the most significant issues identified in Barwon Coast’s Beach Use Research Report.

Barwon Coast launched the Share Our Shores Program in late 2017, and as part of this program they engaged Federation University Australia to undertake a social research project focusing on community views and experiences in relation to various management issues within the Barwon Coast coastal reserve.

Barwon Coast chief executive officer Gary McPike said he was very grateful to the people who took part in this study.

“The huge amount of information we now have on community views and experiences on the Barwon Coast will be a big help to us in delivering on our coastal management obligations,” Mr McPike said.

“The study findings and recommendations provide us with a great level of detail on community views of issues such as beach overcrowding, littering, dogs off leash, sand dune damage and threats to wildlife.

“All the issues covered by the study were identified through previous community consultation for the Coastal and Marine Management Plan.

“This is the key strategic document that guides our work.

“This reinforces to us that we are going in the right direction and we aim to continue to do that in partnership with the community.”

Mr McPike said the issue of dog management and dog access to beach areas was the most significant issue identified in the report.

He said Barwon Coast would now start a review of the dog regulations in force on the coastal reserves in November 2018.

Head researcher for the project Dr Angela Murphy from Federation University said that the public response to the study was significantly higher than what she had anticipated, with more than 1,700 survey responses.

“This is an amazing response!” Dr Murphy said.

“As such we needed more time to analyse the data and the final report release date was delayed.”

Dr Murphy said she looked forward to working with Barwon Coast who were now co-sponsoring with Federation University a PhD student who would look to extend the initial study into a longitudinal research project.

The final report of the study is now available for public viewing. It can be downloaded from barwoncoast.com.au/beach-use-report.