WWF Cover photo - Soufriere Marine Management Association ...

However, there are also reports of marine reserves exacerbating existing problems. One of the mostcommon conflicts is between fishers and recreational users, particularly divers. Where people are permitted todive in marine reserves, fishers can sometimes feel that they are being unfairly excluded, but others remainunregulated. These kinds of resentments have been voiced in the SMMA in St Lucia (pers. obs.) and in theFlorida Keys (Suman et al. 1999). Problems can also arise where itinerant fishers use areas on a sporadic orseasonal basis. Itinerant fishers are not usually consulted about marine reserves because they are not seen as partof the local community. However, they may have a significant impact on local resources. Displacing them fromreserves can lead to problems elsewhere, as happened when fishers moved from the Nosy Atafana marinereserve in Madagascar to other coastal areas (Grandcourt et al. 2001). Alternatively, they may continue to fishillegally, often because they are not subject to the same social pressures as the immediate community.Grandcourt et al. (2001) suggest that the problem of itinerant fishing requires improved and co-ordinated coastalzone management across a wide area. The problem of defining a local community was illustrated in planning theTe Whanganui-a-Hei Marine Reserve in New Zealand. Here one local community was targeted for consultation,but people from other nearby towns who also used the area regularly were not included and felt that they shouldhave been (Cocklin et al. 1998).During initial consultations the full cross-section of the fishing community should be represented. Inany community initiative there is danger that decision-making will be dominated by strong personalitiesrepresenting minority points of view rather than by broad representation of all stakeholders. Even when usergroups are all represented on a committee, the views presented may be limited to a much smaller sub-group, orto the individual interests of the representative. If this is allowed to happen, groups that may already have beenmarginalized because of social and economic differences may become further isolated and disenfranchised.Groups that are often overlooked or viewed as part of another group in which they have no voice include poorsubsistence fishers and women fishers. This may arise from cultural restrictions or because such people are moreinvolved in fishing for household use rather than commercial. Fishing for home consumption is often given lessvalue by decision-makers. Users who speak a different language or come from a minority ethnic group may alsofind themselves excluded because they find it hard to access information, e.g. Spanish speakers in the FloridaKeys National Marine Sanctuary (Suman et al. 1999). Fishers whose activities are already perceived as sociallyunacceptable or part of the management problem, for example dynamite or poison fishers, may also be excludedfrom management. Such omissions can lose vital opportunities to accommodate these people in managementplans, and usually results in problems remaining unresolved.In some areas where marine reserves have been established, fishers see their exclusion as evidence thatthey are being blamed for deteriorating resources, whereas they feel that poorly managed coastal development,pollution and other external influences are more the cause of decline. If fishers have this perception they will feelunfairly treated and be unlikely to support reserves. The role of education and liaison with fishers in such casesis obviously vital. The other impacts contributing to fisheries decline such as habitat damage and pollution willneed to be acknowledged and addressed in educational approaches to the fishing and broader communities.13.1 Alternative income generationMarine reserves can also help generate alternative incomes for fishers. For example, one of the most effectiveways of integrating local fishers’ knowledge into the management of marine reserves is to employ them as parkstaff. This has proven effective at Nabq in Egypt where local Bedouin have become community rangers (Galal etal. 2002). In the SMMA in St Lucia all the rangers are recruited from the local fishing community and theirknowledge is invaluable in enforcement.Agriculture projects were used in management of the Nosy Atafana Marine Park in Madagascar toprovide alternative and additional sources of income for displaced fishers (Grandcourt et al. 2001). As part of acommunity-based coastal zone management plan in Tanga, Tanzania, a number of alternative livelihood optionswere tried. Problems were encountered with fish aggregation devices, oyster farming and fish farming butseaweed farming was successful and now involves fishers from many communities throughout the district(Horrill et al. 2001).Tourism focused around the reserves in St. Lucia has opened up economic opportunities for fishers touse their boats as water taxis (F.R. Gell and C.M. Roberts, unpublished data). This in turn has reduced pressureon the fishery, providing alternative employment for people who would otherwise have to fish. Improvements infish populations in reserves can attract more tourists and improve the ability of local communities to capturetourism revenue. Rudd (2001) and Rudd and Tupper (2002), for example, show how tourists in the Turks andCaicos would be willing to pay more for their dives in places with large Nassau groupers and spiny lobsters(Panulirus argus). Sala et al. (2001) suggest that Nassau groupers are worth more in the water in Belize than asmeat, based on possibilities of tourism centred on the spawning aggregations of these fish. In Kenya, Malleret-King’s (2000) finding of greater household food security among people living close to the Kisite marine reservethan those living further away, was largely because of their ability to generate revenue from tourists (see casestudy).21