The Benefits of No-Take Zones
A coinciding advantage to maintaining a beautiful reserve and beautiful marine-life in the reserve is the tourism, research, and educational opportunities they generate. In a study taken by TERRA (2003) of the Isle Medes project, the statistics reported that:
• Due to the increased tourist trade from visitors to the marine reserve 30.000 more
beds have been added to the hotel capacity of the area
•Also 740 more yacht berthing places have been created
•120 new employment opportunities have been created
•A revenue of 3 million Euro per year from diving activities and tourist
accommodation has been attained
•A revenue of 2,5 million Euro per year has been created from visitors to the marine reserve. (TERRA 2003).
For this reason tourism has been further researched in relation to marine reserves, and is discussed in a different section.
Should all of this material go into the Economics Section?
Ecological Protection and Recovery:
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Despite common assertions to the contrary, Marine Reserves can have significant economic benefits to society, in particular,including the assurance of long-term, sustainable fisheries. OnAdmittedly, one of the unfortunate short-term effects of marine reserves is the displacement of fishermen due to the reduction of fishable waters, the higher levels of congestion, and potential competition. However, in the long run, the establishment of a network of protected areas will inevitably create "optimal harvesting area\[s\]" with "higher resource rents" (Grafton, Komas, & Pham 2006) under controlled fishing rates. Our particular proposal is designed to mitigate the short term costs, while attempting to ensure that enough of the ocean is protected so that the future potential can be realized. |
But perhaps even more exciting are the beneficial economic effects of Marine Reserves to through tourism and other non-exploitative activities. According to the NationalMarineProtectedAreasCenter(1995-1996), the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and other marine-related parks and refuges provide an "estimated total tourist contribution to the economy of over 60 percent." Considering the scale of tourism in areas such as the Florida Keys, this is a truly significant percentage. Myriad activities such as scuba diving, wildlife watching, boating, surfing, and snorkeling are part of this large, lucrative, and growing industry.
Another example of the economic benefits of marine reserves can be found in the Isles de Medes in Spain. The general beautification of the area and the simple presence of the reserve generated many tourism, research, and educational opportunities. A study undertaken by TERRA (2003) regarding the economic benefits to the area:
-Over 30,000 beds were added to the hotel capacity of the area
-1s new places of employment were created
-Revenue of 3 million Euros per year from tourism and recreational activities in the area was generated
-Additional revenue of 2.5 million Euros per year was generated from visitors to the MarinePark itself
Oftentimes, revenues derived from non-extractive uses compare favorably with other more damaging uses of the ocean. For example, consider that whale watching globally generates more than 1 billion USD in revenue per year (Greenpeace 2007a). For Iceland , in particular, whale-watching alone generated around 8.5 million USD per year in revenue, as compared to an average of 3.5-4 million USD from whaling in the years before the onset of the IWC moratorium (Greenpeace 2003). In acknowledgement of these such economic realities, the government of Iceland announced in 2007 , Iceland announced that it would no longer be issuing commercial whale-hunting quotas (Greenpeace 2007b)One possible additional benefit worth pursuing is the use of a scientific journal whose information is researched in the various marine protected areas. The profits of said journal (from membership fees and subscriptions) would be distributed back to the protected area where the data was collected.
*Education:
Education is easily promoted through MPAs. Bringing awareness through tourism is a fantastic form of mass education. School age kids can be educated with field trips to the MPA and school age kids is where the future of our oceans lie. In addition to the fact that kids often bring what they learned from school trips home with them. MPAs make it easier to increase public access to information about marine areas. Visitor centers, museums, and tourist boat trips are how knowledge of the fishery problem will become public.
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