A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

Wetlands provide opportunities for
research, education, tourism development,
and recreation like canoeing, bird
watching, hunting, and claming (Figure II-
17). For example, every year thousands
of visitors go to Trinidad’s Caroni Swamp
mangrove area specifically to view the
great numbers of birds (Saenger et al.,
1983), including the scarlet ibis (Eudocinus
ruber) and other rare and endangered
species (see Case 21 in Part III). During
winter, hundreds of thousands of waterfowl
(ducks, geese, and swans) and waders
feed and roost in and around the salt
marshes, mud flats, and sheltered inshore
waters of the Chesapeake Bay and other
wetlands of the U.S. coastal zone, Holland,
Tunisia (at Lake Ichkeul), and the Sinai.
All these wetlands are important
for species protection. Saltwater crocodiles
(Crocodylus porosus), their freshwater
counterparts, and the alligator
(Alligator mississipiensis) frequent estuaries
and mangroves (Figure II-18). The
endangered Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris
tigris) survives in the mangroves of the
Sunderbans in India and Bangladesh
(Sanyal, 1983). Muskrats (Ondatra zibethica)
are a valuable component of U.S.
saltmarsh communities. Seals frequent
the wetlands of the Wadden Sea. The
proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) is a
mangrove inhabitant of Borneo.
Cooper, Harrison and Ramm (1995)
show convincingly that both small and
large estuaries along the KwaZulu-Natal
coast of South Africa contribute significantly
to the marine fisheries in the
adjacent marine ecosystem. They provide
essential nursery and seasonal feeding
habitats for estuarine-dependent marine
species and probably also support the
PART II
Protected Areas for Lagoons and Estuaries
FIGURE II-16.
Interdependencies within the mangrove environment:
(1) leaves; (2) algae; (3) fungi, protozoa, bacteria;
(4) sesarmid and grapsid crabs; (5) shrimp; (6) insect
larvae; (7) mullet; (8) fiddler crabs; (9) worms;
(10) amphipods; (11) bivalve molluscs; (12) grunters;
(13) emperors; (14) pony fishes; (15) sawfish;
(16) trevallies; (17) sea eagle.
FIGURE II-17.
Nature tours provide good income for guides in Palau.
189
Photo by John Clark.