MPA in Labor: Securing the Pearl Cays of Nicaragua

Implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has always a step-zero, i.e., an initial phase when the idea is incepted, communicated and negotiated among stakeholders. What happens during this phase is likely to have an impact later on. If not done right, the management of the MPA may encounter problems at later stage that will be difficult to correct. Inspired by this working theory, this article describes the effort to establish the Pearl Cays off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a protected area. This case-study illustrates the critical actions to be taken during step-zero, i.e., what needs to be considered and done before an MPA is formally declared. The area investigated consists of a number of small islands (cays) and coral reefs, fishing grounds and marine turtle nesting areas. Throughout history, the cays have played an important role in sustaining livelihoods of nearby communities. Although the idea of an MPA was originally conservation, the communities saw it as an opportunity to regain ownership and control of the cays. By Nicaraguan law, in order to establish protected areas, consultation and approval from local people is required. In the case of the Pearl Cays, this has proved difficult. The article demonstrates how MPA initiatives must sometimes relate to already ongoing complex social processes in the area where they are to be instigated

fisheries and tourism social economic and ecological trade offs in coral reef systems

Coastal communities are exerting increasingly more pressure on coral reef ecosystem services in the Anthropocene. Balancing trade-offs between local economic demands, preservation of traditional values, and maintenance of both biodiversity and ecosystem resilience is a challenge for reef managers and resource users. Consistently, growing reef tourism sectors offer more lucrative livelihoods than subsistence and artisanal fisheries at the cost of traditional heritage loss and ecological damage. Using a systematic review of coral reef fishery reconstructions since the 1940s, we show that declining trends in fisheries catch and fish stocks dominate coral reef fisheries globally, due in part to overfishing of schooling and spawning-aggregating fish stocks vulnerable to exploitation. Using a separate systematic review of coral reef tourism studies since 2013, we identify socio-ecological impacts and economic opportunities associated to the industry. Fisheries and tourism have the potential to threaten the ecological stability of coral reefs, resulting in phase shifts toward less productive coral-depleted ecosystem states. We consider whether four common management strategies (unmanaged commons, ecosystem-based management, co-management, and adaptive co-management) fulfil ecological conservation and socioeconomic goals, such as living wage, job security, and maintenance of cultural traditions. Strategies to enforce resource exclusion and withhold traditional resource rights risk social unrest; thus, the coexistence of fisheries and tourism industries is essential. The purpose of this chapter is to assist managers and scientists in their responsibility to devise implementable strategies that protect local community livelihoods and the coral reefs on which they rely

Tourist traps : assessing the role of tourism in sustaining life below water

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are often heralded as the solution to issues associated with the overexploitation of natural resources. There are extensive international targets for the declaration of MPAs, which are likely unachievable. However, these targets drive countries to make quick and often short-sighted decisions regarding MPA development, encouraging a quantity over quality approach. As a result, numerous targets are yet to be met as per the 2030 timeline, and the proposed interventions to fulfil these targets have, in some instances, impeded conservation, negatively impacting local people. The time-lag between the declaration of MPAs and the recovery of previously overexploited populations can be upwards of a decade, and this success depends entirely on local community buy-in. As a method of encouraging community engagement, marine tourism is often proposed as an alternative livelihood strategy. Nevertheless, MPA declaration continues, expecting that they will support both communities and their environment. Tourism has its own impacts. This study explores the realities and contexts of the interactions between communities, tourism and MPAs. Particular focus is placed on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.7 ‘increase the economic benefits from sustainable use of marine resources’. We examine some case-studies from Southeast Asia to evaluate the synergistic relationship between tourism, communities and effective environmental management. Critically, we examine how marine tourism can support livelihoods to the degree required to minimise marine environmental degradation and sufficiently meet SDG 14 in order to ‘sustain life below water’