The economic feasibility of the creation of the Jardines de la Reina national park

Abstract

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been regarded as passive management strategies, aiming at preserving and recovering marine resources. Lately, MPAs have become one of the favourite tools for management, conservation and recovery of marine resources (Roberts et al., 2001; Green and Donnelly, 2003; Christie and White, 2007; Sale, 2008). MPAs provide a large array of benefits to both human and non-human components of marine ecosystems (Cesar, 2000). These benefits might be divided into two large groups: one related to extractive activities, like fishing, and the other one related to non-extractive activities, such as tourism. Many authors have reported that after the establishment of MPAs, fishing has increased outside of them (McClanahan and Mangi, 2000; Roberts et al., 2001), while others have observed an increase in fish density, biomass and richness inside and outside the MPAs limits (Pina-Amargos, 2008). Others, on the other hand, have expressed that achievement of such benefits is not as fast as the advocates of MPAs state (Hatcher, 1997; Brown et al., 2001). Socioeconomic studies play a fundamental role among stakeholders to implement, maintain and approve MPAs (Angulo-Valdes and Hatcher, 2010). That is why involving the main actors in those studies regarding the direct or indirect uses of resources and environmental services of MPAs becomes crucial (Bunce et al., 1999; Brown et al., 2001).