Accounting for tourism benefits in marine reserve design.

Daniel F Viana,Steven D Gaines,Benjamin S Halpern,Andrea Belgrano

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190187

Abstract

Marine reserve design often considers potential benefits to conservation and/or fisheries but typically ignores potential revenues generated through tourism. Since tourism can be the main source of economic benefits for many marine reserves worldwide, ignoring tourism objectives in the design process might lead to sub-optimal outcomes. To incorporate tourism benefits into marine reserve design, we develop a bioeconomic model that tracks tourism and fisheries revenues through time for different management options and location characteristics. Results from the model show that accounting for tourism benefits will ultimately motivate greater ocean protection. Our findings demonstrate that marine reserves are part of the optimal economic solution even in situations with optimal fisheries management and low tourism value relative to fisheries. The extent of optimal protection depends on specific location characteristics, such as tourism potential and other local amenities, and the species recreational divers care about. Additionally, as tourism value increases, optimal reserve area also increases. Finally, we demonstrate how tradeoffs between the two services depend on location attributes and management of the fishery outside marine reserve borders. Understanding when unavoidable tradeoffs will arise helps identify those situations where communities must choose between competing interests.

Highlights

Degradation of ocean ecosystems driven by human activities has led to an increased global interest in the establishment of ocean protected areas [1,2]
Maximum fisheries revenue is achieved with no marine reserves
With perfect fisheries management, accounting for tourism benefits will be crucial for marine reserves to be part of the optimal economic solution

Summary

Introduction

Degradation of ocean ecosystems driven by human activities has led to an increased global interest in the establishment of ocean protected areas [1,2]. Much of the interest in marine reserves is driven by their success in recovering important habitats and increasing species biomass and diversity within the reserve’s boundaries [4]. Reserves can fail to reach their full potential because of the lack of resources for monitoring and enforcement [5], they are a globally important conservation tool. In addition to these clear conservation benefits, the increases in species population size within reserves can generate important.

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Discussion

Conclusion