. Sustainable Ecotourism on Islands, with Special Reference to Whale Watching and Marine Protected Areas and Sanctuaries for Cetaceans
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- Hoyt, Erich.
- Merino, Sonia Elsy 1 Berrow, Simon 2
ABSTRACTS WEDNESDAY 25 August 09.40-10.30 hrs (We-1) Theme 2: Conservation, Sustainable development & Ecotourism 09.40-10.30 (Keynote - K2). Sustainable Ecotourism on Islands, with Special Reference to Whale Watching and Marine Protected Areas and Sanctuaries for Cetaceans. Hoyt, Erich.Co-director, Far East Russia Orca Project, and Senior Research Associate, WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (29A Dirleton Avenue, North Berwick, Scotland EH39 4BE, (ehoyt@compuserve.com).All tourism should be sustainable but ecotourism on islands has a special responsibility to the environment. Ecotourism relies on the natural environment to attract and deliver satisfaction to the visitor. Thus, at the most basic level, sustainability for ecotourism requires that the natural environment be neither degraded nor over-exploited but maintained in the most pristine possible condition. Yet, whether it is tourism or ecotourism, some costs are always present at some level. It is useful to employ a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) to enhance the benefits or values of ecotourism and to manage and reduce the costs. Attention must be given to the full range of environmental and social costs, including hidden costs incurred in the course of every aspect of the tourism industry. CBA can be a key part of a framework for sustainable development of ecotourism that includes a management plan prepared and agreed by all stakeholders, a legal regime such as a marine protected area (MPA) together with environmental legislation, and a strategy for evaluating sustainability with periodic review. The management plan should set out the agreed-upon carrying capacity (K) for ecotourism, allowing a margin to cover unforeseen events that could make tourism unsustainable and encouraging a generous reinvestment in the business to protect the resource. Ecotourism in the Atlantic islands region is already established, though in-depth planning and periodic review, needed to assess sustainability, is often lacking. In the whale watching and marine tourism sector, advertised ecotourism enterprises often fail to reach minimum standards for ecotourism. The Mediterranean and the Caribbean provide some models for regional agreements involving cetaceans, MPAs, whale watching and marine ecotourism. In the Atlantic islands area, approximately 1.7 million people a year go whale watching, spending at least US $133.7 million in total expenditures. There is one international cetacean sanctuary, the landmark Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals and three proposed international sanctuaries (two near the UK and Ireland and one covering the South Atlantic). Five countries or overseas territories have national cetacean sanctuaries (Bermuda, the Falklands, Ireland, Madeira and Tristan da Cunha) covering all or most of their waters and two others have proposed national sanctuaries (Guadeloupe and the Canary Islands). There are at least 80 existing and 40 proposed MPAs in the region which include cetacean habitat, representing about 20 percent of all MPAs with cetaceans worldwide. Only a few of these MPAs, however, have management plans with strategies for sustainable ecotourism, though in many proposed and existing MPAs researchers are starting to think about how to set up management plans as part of a sustainable framework. Whale watching is frequently promoted loosely and unjustifiably as ecotourism, but when it is conducted sustainably, especially in or near a cetacean MPA and with other guidelines and regulations in place, whale watching has the capacity to take a strong leading role in the development of an island-based ecotourism industry. 11.00-11.20 (O-04) Marine Eco-tourism in Cape Verde, its potential for sustainable development and conservation of marine biodiversity. Merino, Sonia Elsy1 & Berrow, Simon21The National Institute for the Research and Development of Fisheries, Cape Verde. (soniaelsy@yahoo.com); 2The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. (Simon.Berrow@iwdg.ie).The Cape Verde Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) encloses an area of 734,265 Km2 around the 10 islands forming the Cape Verde Archipelago. Ponta Roque, in Boavista, is the nearest point to the continent of Africa, 310 km distant. With an average 40,000 ton MSY and a decrease in fishery capture worldwide the whole population, but the fishing communities in particular, feels the reduction in staple food and fishery resources stronger, incomes among fishermen are clearly getting lower from year to year. Meanwhile, the potential of marine eco-tourism seems to be an alternative sustainable option for developing the national economy. At least 17 species of cetaceans are linked to this archipelago, among which blue whales, humpbacks and a wide variety of dolphins are seen during the year in the bays and around the islands. Five species of marine turtles use the islands as reproduction and feeding grounds; Caretta caretta nest in the region between June and October, green turtles visit some islands zones of high energy where they feed and swim throughout the year. Not less interesting for ME, but also important as nursery areas are coral regions, many of them yet unknown. Endemisms are no less important. Scientific tourism is one that for long has been going on in the archipelago and is one that needs to be planned and explored in a fair manner by the scientific community interested in the Cape Verde Marine ecosystem. 11.20-11.40 (O-15) Conservation of marine turtles in the Azores: experiment to reduce by-catch in the longline fishery. Martins, Helen R1; Bolten, Alan B.2; Santos, Marco A.1; Ferreira, Rogério L.1 & Bjorndal, Karen A.2Download 209.64 Kb. Share with your friends:
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