Volume 106, March 2015, Pages 118–123
Tourism-related drivers of support for protection of fisheries resources on Andros Island, The Bahamas
Highlights
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- Overharvest of fisheries resources threatens sustainability throughout the Caribbean.
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- We survey residents to determine drivers of support for fisheries resources protection.
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- Recognizing negative impacts on conch from tourism predicted support.
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- Recognizing positive impacts on quality of life from tourism predicted support.
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- Education level predicted support.
Abstract
Fisheries
resources in the Caribbean suffer intense pressure from overharvesting.
Some of the most valuable fisheries in The Bahamas, such as queen conch
(Strombus gigas), spiny lobster (Panulirus argus), and Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus),
are overexploited and require additional protection. Despite these
pressures, we currently know very little about the factors that underlie
local residents' support for such protection. We interviewed residents
of Andros Island, The Bahamas to evaluate how perception of
environmental impacts of tourism, perception of benefits of tourism for
their quality of life, income generation from tourism, and education
level influenced their willingness to support additional protection of
marine resources in the face of a growing tourism industry. We found
that respondents supporting additional marine resource protection tended
to perceive tourism as having negative impacts on marine resources and
neutral to positive effects on their family's quality of life. Attending
at least some college also positively influenced support for marine
resource protection, although whether residents sold natural products to
tourists did not appear to influence their stance on marine resource
protection. Our results suggest education in a broad sense, and
particularly education highlighting how tourism can both positively
affect human well-being and harm marine resources, will promote public
support for marine resource protection.
Keywords
- Conservation;
- Environmental education;
- Fisheries;
- Natural resources;
- Protected areas;
- Tourism development
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