A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

282 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
Introduction
11. Saint Lucia: Evolution of an NGO-
Managed Marine Protected Area
In the surroundings of the small town of Soufriere in Saint Lucia, resource use
conflicts between tourist divers, yachters, hoteliers, fishermen and other local people
were common. The reasons for the conflicts included the following: the visiting
divers cut holes in the fishermen’s traps in an attempt to protect coral reef fish,
yachtsmen anchored in sandy bays making the traditional fishing of coastal pelagics
difficult, and the access to the beaches and the sea had become restricted with the
development of the tourism industry. There were also fears that illegal spearfishing
and pot fishing on the reef would continue keeping the reef fish populations at a low
level, and that careless diving and boat anchoring would cause physical damage on
the reef .
The major conflicts were solved through a public consultation process, which
in 1994 led to the establishment of the Soufriere Marine Management Area (SMMA),
a zoned Eastern Caribbean MPA. The benefits to the major user groups have included
improved definition of user rights through zoning, developments in the protection
of the coral reef habitat and an increase in the reef fish populations.
The SMMA is a success story in community participation, conflict resolution,
user financing and integrated coastal management, in spite of the fact that five years
after its establishment it is going through reorganization.
Resource uses before the SMMA
In addition to agriculture, fisheries have been the traditional source of income in the
region of Soufriere in the southwestern part of St. Lucia. In fisheries, the coastal pelagics
have been a major part of the catch. These inshore pelagics have been captured
mostly in sandy bays with beach seine nets. The second important gear type has been
the ”fillet net”, which is a gill net. In the coral reef areas, fish have been captured also
with fish traps, which were owned by a quarter of the Soufriere fishermen in 1994.
That year there were in total 150 fishermen in Soufriere and they had 78 boats.