Trust, transparency, communication, and fairness in the planning and management of conservation projects may be more important for gaining long-term local support than emphasizing ecological effectiveness, UBC-led research has discovered.
Trust, transparency, communication, and fairness in the planning and management of conservation projects may be more important for gaining long-term local support than emphasizing ecological effectiveness, UBC-led research has discovered.
In the study, released today in Conservation Letters, researchers surveyed small-scale fishermen in six European countries about their perceptions of and support for marine protected areas (MPAs).
“The Mediterranean and Black Seas are fished at biologically unsustainable levels, by the regions’ fishing fleet, 80 per cent of which are small-scale fishers,” said Nathan Bennett, lead author and research associate in the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Ocean and Fisheries and in the ECOSEAS lab at the Université Côte d’Azur. “Gaining local support for one of the area’s common management tools – marine protected areas (MPAs) – is vital to ensure conservation measures are in place and successful in the long-run.”
The survey focused on three key factors – ecological effectiveness, social impacts, and good governance – and how these related to local support. Overall, respondents were supportive of marine protected areas overall with 29 per cent voicing strong support, and only 5.4 per cent expressing strong opposition. Ecologically, the respondents felt that MPAs had a positive impact for fish abundance and habitat quality.
Read more at University of British Columbia
Image: Courtesy of Torre Guaceto MPA management body. (Credit: Giuseppe Affinito)
