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Abstract
The creation of a marine reserve network is an active area of policy in Australia. Successful policy
hinges on community support, which requires an understanding of what drives improvements in
social welfare. Here, a discrete choice experiment is used to estimate ecological values for the
Ningaloo Marine Park. A novel aspect of this research is that it not only considers the values people
hold for conservation outcomes, but also their preferences for how those outcomes are achieved. By
considering management process within the choice model, we gain a richer understanding of the
relationship between social welfare and marine conservation. The results indicate that management
process does have an impact on individuals’ preferences for conservation.