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Project |
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| Project title |
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Ecological and social impacts in planning Caribbean marine-reserves |
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| Project number |
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R6783 |
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 Project leader |
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 Nicholas Polunin
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Lead organisation |
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Deptartment of Marine Sciences and Coastal Zone Management, University of Newcastle
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| Project
period |
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01/09/1996 to 30/09/1999 |
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Budget (£) |
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31,000
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| Project
website |
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| NRSP
keyword |
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coastal zone, coral reef, diving, ecology, fish, marine protected areas, socio-economic, tourism |
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 Country |
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Cayman Islands, Belize, Cuba, Barbados, Jamaica |
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| Node:
suite |
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Caribbean: Background |
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| Production
system |
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Land Water Interface |
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| Theme |
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| Project
summary |
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To identify and quantify the impacts of coastal management options on urban and rural communities in the coastal zone, and to develop sustainable resource-use strategies by assessing the impacts of marine reserves on stakeholders and reef condition. The approach used by the project led to an improved understanding of the linkages between marine protected areas, land-based tourism and local fishers.
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| Background |
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Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a major focus of coastal management action, but many MPAs in the Caribbean have not achieved the objectives for which they were gazetted and are in need of management support.
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| Purpose |
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To identify and quantify the impacts of coastal management options on urban and rural communities in the coastal zone, and to develop sustainable resource-use strategies by assessing the impacts of marine reserves on stakeholders and reef condition.
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| Outputs |
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Reef attributes preferred by tourist divers were used as measures of reef condition and compared among areas subject to different levels of management in Jamaica, Barbados, Grand Cayman, Cuba and Belize. Economic-anthropological and political assessments of marine reserve management were made, and local community perceptions and scientific understanding of benefits of marine reserve development were also assessed. Guidelines towards a draft strategy for improved planning of marine reserves and optimisation of coral reef management were derived at a workshop and disseminated.
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| Achievements |
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The approach used has led to an improved understanding of the linkages between marine protected areas, land based tourism, and local fishers.
Reefs in marine reserves tended to have greater values of those attributes that divers most preferred, and this finding provides a basis for improved valuation of these protected areas in relation to tourism uses.
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